Alternate Universe: Before and After
by Gazlover12-Canada
Summary: Events that occur in Arthur's life after he is adopted by Ivan and Alfred Jones-Braginski. Prequel to Alternate Universe, containing stories of Ivan, Alfred, and Arthur's life before and after the events of Alternate Universe! RusAme! R&R!
1. Adoption

_Hey guys, here's the first chapter of the prequel/sequel to my other story, Alternate Universe! If you haven't read it then that's okay you don't have to. It's basically just a universe where everybody is humans instead of countries, and it focuses on the Jones-Braginski family. Ivan and Alfred are married and Arthur is their adopted child. A little weird, but give it a chance!  
_

_Enjoy!  
_

**Adopting a kid:**

Alfred F. Jones-Braginski had been married to Ivan Braginski for six months. They lived in a nice two story house in New York with three bedrooms and a good sized backyard in the residential part of the city. Ivan worked for **Laggart Transcontinental Inc.** and Alfred worked online, editing and designing a website. They were pretty wealthy for a just married couple, but it was proving to be nice. Alfred could buy anything he wanted. Well actually they had pretty much everything. Except for one thing, that is.

"Alfred, I'm home!" Ivan called, stepping inside the house and setting aside his briefcase. It had been a long and stressful day at his company. Being vice president was certainly hard work, but it paid off since he had weekends off and had a good salary.

"Hey babe, I'm so glad your back! I missed you!" Alfred greeted him. Ivan wrapped his arms around Alfred's waist and they shared a romantic kiss, like they always did whenever Ivan returned from work.

"Did you make dinner?" Ivan asked when they were done. "I am very hungry."

"I cooked up some hamburgers, come on let's go eat!" Alfred said excitedly. Ivan rolled his eyes but followed. His husband always made hamburgers, but they were actually pretty good when he made them at home.

Dinner was quiet but comfortable. For once Alfred wasn't chattering away about random things, which got Ivan a little concerned. Alfred usually always talked unless he was sick or upset.

"Sunflower, is something wrong?" He eventually asked when he couldn't take it anymore.

"Ivan, I wanna have a kid" Alfred said bluntly. Ivan, who had been in the middle of drinking his lemon water, erupted into a coughing fit.

"A kid?" He finally asked.

"Yes, a kid." Alfred repeated, his face serious for once. "I really want one."

"You mean by adoption?" Ivan asked, just to be sure.

"No duh! What other possible way could there be?" Alfred replied. It was silent for a moment, Ivan lost in thought and Alfred staring at him awaiting a reply.

"I didn't know you felt that way...I mean, we haven't even been married for that long. Your not even twenty until next month. Taking care of a child is a big responsibility." Ivan said slowly. Seeing Alfred's crestfallen face he quickly added, "But I wouldn't mind having a kid either."

"Awesome!" Alfred said, giving his usual bright smile again.

The days passed, but not much action was taken. Ivan and Alfred mostly talked about what kind of kid they wanted. The couple agreed that a boy would be better because they were males themselves and would be able to relate to the child better. Ivan wanted a smart and obedient kid, Alfred wanted a fun and wild kid. So there were debates and differences, but not yet had they actually met with any kids.

A few weeks later Ivan had to go to London for a business trip. Naturally Alfred came along, as he usually did whenever Ivan had to go out of state or country. They would be staying there for two weeks, at a nice fancy hotel. Alfred loved hotels. They always seemed to get him into the _mood_. He and Ivan would have a lot of fun there.

About four days into their trip, Ivan and Alfred were sightseeing around London. Alfred had never been before and thought that it was so cool! As they were walking down a street though, something caught the American's eye.

"Ivan look, an adoption center!" He cried out, pointing to a building across the street.

"What about it?" Ivan asked.

"We want to adopt a kid, right? Well now's the perfect time to go looking!" Alfred told him excitedly.

"Darling, we are here for my work, not to find a child. Why not wait till we get back to America and look there?" Ivan suggested.

"But Ivaaaaan" Alfred whined. "I want to at least look! Please babe?"

"Ugh...fine" Ivan finally agreed, knowing that there was no way he could persuade his lover otherwise. They walked across the street and up to the front door of the building. It was pretty large, but looked neat and proper. They walked through the front doors and into a lobby type of room that had a desk. Nobody was sitting there though.

"Where are all the kids?" Alfred asked sadly upon seeing the empty room.

"Probably in a different room" Ivan answered. "Now listen my sunflower, we are just going to look, and that is all. So no going after the first little kid you see, understand?"

"Sure Ivan, whatever." Alfred said. "Now let's go find them!"

"I really think we should wait for an adult." Ivan said, but it was too late since Alfred had already crossed the room to another set of doors.

"I hear voices inside!" Alfred yelled. "Come on, let's go in!"

They opened the door and went inside. It was a large room filled with children indeed. Toys were scattered about the place, and children of all ages were chattering and playing.

"Wow. Look at all of them." Alfred said, staring wide eyed. Even Ivan found himself lost for words. For a few minutes they just stared, before suddenly Alfred grinned and pointed. "Awww, Ivan, look at that one!" He squealed, pointing over to a little boy playing with a stuffed rabbit. He had very messy blonde hair, and large innocent green eyes.

"He's so adorable!" Ivan said, observing the little boy. For a moment they both just kept staring. The child seemed to be talking to himself, petting the stuffed animal as if it were real. There couldn't have been a more cuter sight.

"That red haired boy looks kinda cute too" Alfred said, pointing to a different child. The couple still felt their gazes drawn to the little blonde boy playing quietly with his rabbit.

"Oh hello. I didn't see you two come in. Were you looking to adopt a child?" A voice asked from behind them. It was a lady who looked kind. Her brown hair was drawn up into a messy bun, and she wore a loose fitting dress.

"Er...yes, we've been thinking of adopting." Ivan found himself answering.

"How wonderful!" The lady replied. "Well, all of these children are very sweet. You can feel free to talk to any of them if you'd like."

She barely even finished her sentence before Ivan and Alfred took off in the direction of the blonde boy. They then stopped in front of him, not quite sure what to say. The boy looked up thankfully, and gave a shy smile.

"Hello, I'm Arthur." He said meekly, clutching his rabbit to his chest. That single sentence won both of the men's hearts.

"Awww let's adopt him Alfred!" Ivan said excitedly, completely forgetting what he had told Alfred in the first place.

"Yeah!" Alfred shouted, bending over and picking up Arthur. "We'll take this one!" He called briefly to the lady before proceeding to walk out of the building.

"Wait, hold on a moment, you can't just take him!" The lady called to him.

"What? Why not?" Alfred asked sadly, holding the shocked child tighter to his chest.

"Well, to start with there's a lot of paperwork! There's a long process to adoption." She tried to explain, spluttering over her words.

"Damn it" Alfred sighed. "But I want him now!"

"Don't worry my sweet, I'll make sure we get him as soon as possible." Ivan assured him.

"Okay" Alfred said, sighing again before reluctantly putting Arthur back down. "Don't worry kiddo, we'll get you out of here as soon as we can! Don't talk to any other couples trying to adopt." He said.

"Er...okay." Arthur replied. "I can't wait to live with you."

Ivan and Alfred 'awwed' one more time before following the lady out of the room to talk about the process of adoption. It turns out that the child's full name was Arthur Kirkland who was almost 6, and he had just recently been put here after living with a few other foster families. Before that his brothers had been taking care of him. Apparently his mother was a druggie and died of OD. Not much was known about his real father, who had left before he was born. Arthur was neglected a lot as a baby since his brothers weren't much older than he was. Ivan and Alfred felt absolutely horrible, and wanted to adopt Arthur as fast as they could.

Two months later, they had successfully adopted Arthur. His new name was now Arthur Jones-Braginski.

**...^J^...**

**The new changes with having a kid:  
**

It was a lot different having a child, Alfred decided to himself. There were a lot more responsibilities for one. For instance, Ivan and Alfred both tried to refrain from swearing so much to set a good example. Arthur was a pretty intelligent child, and he observed things a lot. At first he had been quiet, but after warming up more to his new dads he talked a lot more. It was decided that Alfred was now known as "daddy" and Ivan was "father".

Another thing was that Alfred and Ivan had to be a lot more careful with their sex life. They had found that out the hard way. Arthur had been living with them for about a week, and things were starting to get a lot more comfortable. After putting Arthur to bed (this included reading a night time story and being tucked in) Ivan and Alfred then decided that it was time for a long rewarding round of sex.

Right in the middle of it, a timid knocking sounded at the door.

"Dammit" Alfred muttered to himself, knowing that there was only one other person in the house. "Quick Ivan, get the covers! We can't let him see us naked!"

They proceeded to break apart and pull the covers up before Ivan called for Arthur to come in. The door creaked open and Arthur stood there clad in his power ranger pajamas, (courtesy of Alfred) sniffling and rubbing his eyes.

"What is wrong, little one?" Ivan asked him.

"I h-heard a m-monster" Arthur said, hiccuping. "It kept moaning a-and making funny noises. It sounded like it was trying to eat you."

Alfred and Ivan both froze, looking at each other in horror. Oh god...

"It's okay Artie. Go back to your room and I'll be there in a second to tuck you back in, okay bud?" Alfred finally said.

"O-okay" Arthur said, slowly walking back down the hall to his room.

"Maybe we should learn to be a little more quieter" Ivan spoke up.

"Yeah, either that or get soundproof walls" Alfred said as he pulled on his boxers and a shirt. "I'll be right back."

He sprinted down the hall to their son's room and found Arthur waiting back in bed. Alfred sat down and began tucking the covers back over the six year old. "Now listen Artie, that wasn't a monster you heard. It was just me and your father playing a noisy game." He said, not really sure how to explain it. He sure as hell wasn't going to give a six year old the sex talk!

"A game? Can I play too?" Arthur asked, perking up a bit.

"NO!" Alfred instantly shouted, feeling bad when he saw Arthur wince. "Er, I mean, no. This game is for grown ups only. You'll learn about it someday when your way way waaayyy older."

"Okay" Arthur said, giving a little yawn.

"Go back to sleep, okay kiddo?" Alfred said, giving the boy a kiss on the forehead.

"Yeah." Arthur replied, instantly rolling over and closing his eyes. Alfred left the room with a sigh of relief.

They were going to have to be more careful.

But it was worth it.

**...^J^...**

**Protective parents:**

Arthur liked his new life in America very much. Living with his mummy and brothers had never been that fun. He had always wished for a dad, and now he had two of them! What more could a child ask for? He even had his own room, and a big bed with soft pillows and brand new fuzzy stuffed animals. Both his daddy and father were very nice. This morning he had even gotten to choose what was for breakfast, plus he got to watch whatever he wanted as long as it wasn't a grown up show.

Right now Arthur was in the backyard playing. Alfred, who still hadn't been used to having a child and viewed Arthur as a fragile little angel, kept peering outside every few minutes to make sure that Arthur was okay. Arthur was absolutely fine though, running around the average sized yard and garden. The soft grass felt good against his bare feet. His game of exploring lasted only a little bit longer. He walked to a pile of wood near the house, climbing on top of it to get a higher view. As he took another step, Arthur felt a sudden sharp pain in his left foot. He quickly jerked his foot from the piece of wood and was alarmed to see that his foot was covered in blood. He had accidentally stepped on a nail!

The first thing that went through Arthur's mind was fear. When his brothers had taken care of him, they had always gotten very mad and shouted at him whenever he got hurt. He didn't want his new parents to get mad at him. Perhaps he could take care of his foot by himself without getting caught. Luckily for Arthur, Alfred hadn't seen what had happened since he had gone upstairs to get something from his bedroom, and Ivan was in the kitchen eating.

Arthur limped quietly through the house without being seen, unknowingly tracking blood on the floors from the nasty puncture wound in his foot. The only difficult part of his journey through the house was making it to the bathroom since Alfred and Ivan's room was directly across from it and Alfred happened to be in there. Arthur wasn't seen though, and made it into the bathroom. He ended up just running water over it and wrapping a bunch of toilet paper around his foot. The first aid kit (Boo-boo box as Alfred called it) was located high atop a shelf that he couldn't reach, so there was no other choice of band aids. After that Arthur felt fine, and went to his bedroom to read a book.

Alfred on the other hand, had been heading back downstairs. He heard Arthur's bedroom door close and shrugged, figuring that Arthur had come back inside. It was a little funny since the kid usually kept his door open, but Alfred supposed that all kids were entitled to their privacy. He walked back downstairs, but when he reached the living room he stopped, peering down at the floor.

"Huh? What are all those red droplets on the floor?" He muttered to himself. He dipped a finger in the red substance, sniffing it. Then he tentatively tasted it. Right when his tongue touched it, Alfred's face instantly screwed up and he spit it out. Disgusting, it tasted like...blood. Blood. Blood!

"IVAN! Oh my god! Babe, are you okay? Have you been shot?" Alfred asked, screaming wildly as he ran into the kitchen. Ivan, who had frozen with his sandwich halfway to his mouth, narrowed his eyes and gave his husband an odd look.

"What are you talking about sunflower? I'm perfectly fine." He said.

"But...but the blood on the floor..." Alfred told him. Then suddenly his eyes widened with realization. Only one other person lived in the house.

"Arthur!" Both Ivan and Alfred said. Both parents raced upstairs as fast as they could to Arthur's room. Without thinking, Alfred lifted his foot and kicked down the door. They saw Arthur laying on his stomach on the bed, a picture book in his hands.

"Arthur! Artie baby are you okay? It's okay, father and daddy are here! Did you get shot? Let me see!" Alfred said frantically, lifting Arthur into his lap and seeing his toilet paper wrapped foot.

"Why does he always assume it's a gun wound?" Ivan muttered quietly to himself before joining the other members of his family. "Arthur, what happened to your foot?"

"Nothing" Arthur said quickly, squirming to get out of Alfred's lap. "It's all better now. I stepped on a nail but I fixed it."

"A nail? From outside? Oh my god!" Alfred screamed, holding Arthur tighter. "Ivan, call 911! Call a doctor! Call Uncle Mattie! Call anybody! Well, anybody except Mattie's Cuban friend!"

"Alfred, calm down" Ivan instructed sternly before kneeling down and taking Arthur's small leg into his big hands. "Now Arthur, I'm just going to take a look to see how bad it is."

"But it's not bad! I promise!" Arthur protested, trying to draw his foot back as tears came to his eyes.

"It's alright Arthur, I'm just going to take a peek." Ivan said calmly. In reality his heart was thudding with panic. How bad was the wound? What if it got infected? Thankfully it said on Arthur's adoption papers that his tetanus shot was up to date, but it was still scary. Arthur had his face buried into Alfred's neck, and Alfred murmured to him reassuringly as Ivan carefully unwound the foot. Once that was done, he looked at it, giving a hiss. It looked like it hurt. It wasn't bleeding that much anymore, but there was a deep hole in his foot. Luckily the nail wasn't still there. He could hear Alfred whimper as he looked down to their child's foot as well.

"Alright now, it doesn't look too serious. Alfred is going to call the pediatrician to make sure we don't need to go to the hospital, and I'm going to take you to the bathroom and wash your foot off better, okay?" He told Arthur softly.

"O-okay" Arthur answered, reaching his arms out for Ivan to lift him up. Alfred pulled out his cell and called the pediatrician (He had memorized the number by heart).

Thankfully the doctor said not to be too alarmed, and just gave instructions on how to care for the wound. If it showed any signs of infection a few days from now then they were to bring him to the doctors. They washed all the dirt and rust particles from the foot before drying it off. Ivan then dabbed some antibiotic cream on it before wrapping Arthur's foot with bandages. Alfred, who had been panicking even more than Arthur, had finally calmed down as well.

"Gosh Artie, you were so brave!" He said. "How about we go get come ice cream?"

"Yeah!" Arthur agreed. "I want chocolate!"

"Of course. Anything you want since you were so brave." Ivan told him.

The whole rest of the day Arthur was treated like a prince. When the evening came, they had set up Arthur on the couch with a movie to watch. While this happened, Ivan and Alfred spent two hours in the backyard, disposing of every single dangerous metal nail or screw, as well as any other dangerous things.

They had developed into pretty protective parents.

(Coming up next: The rest of the family (Uncle Mattie, Auntie Katyusha, and Auntie Natalia) meet Arthur!)

**a/n: Er, so how was that? Basically this is just going to be a bunch of chapters containing moments of Ivan, Alfred, and Arthur's life in this weird alternate universe thingy. It's basically a prequel, but also maybe a sequel since the later chapters will contain stories from after the events that occurred in Alternate Universe. I just hope that people actually like it. **

**Tell me what you think, you know, whether it's worth reading or not...lol.  
**

**Anyway, have a good day!  
**


	2. Adjusting to being a parent

**Uncle Mattie!:**

Alfred was very excited. Today his brother Matthew Williams was coming over to the house to meet Arthur for the first time. It was nice that Mattie lived so close by. He and his Cuban friend Juan lived only about ten minutes away. It was especially convenient during the summer since they could swim in his in ground pool. Gosh, it was so funny that Mattie was an uncle now. His new name would officially be Uncle Mattie! The only downside was the fact that Juan would be coming over as well.

"You are just going to love your Uncle Mattie" He told Arthur, who was sitting on the counter drinking apple juice while Alfred made lunch." He has a pet polar bear, and an in ground pool! We'll have to take you swimming up there soon. The only problem is that he lives with his weird Cuban friend."

"Is he nice?" Arthur asked.

"Sure he is! He's just really quiet...sometimes I even forget he's in the room." Alfred said with a chuckle. "Now try this chicken salad. Does it have enough mayonnaise?"

Matthew and Juan would be arriving any minute. Ivan was upstairs putting in a load of laundry. Luckily it was Saturday, and he had weekends off. Matthew and Juan would be joining them for lunch, and Alfred had decided upon chicken salad sandwiches and watermelon.

Soon the doorbell rang. Alfred whooped with joy and took off towards the door, yanking it open to reveal two young men. Matthew looked to be about the same height as Alfred, but his hair was wavier and his eyes were a strange violet. The man next to him was dark skinned and a little chubby, with black dreadlocks.

"Mattie! It's so good to see you!" Alfred said, slinging an arm around his twin and steering him inside, ignoring Juan.

"Good to see you to Al" Matthew said softly as he was escorted inside.

"Ah, good to see both of you" Ivan, who had come back downstairs, also greeted them. Matthew and Juan both sat down on the couch, and it was silent for a moment.

"Well...where is he?" Matthew asked after a moment, not seeing the six year old that Alfred had told him so much about over the phone.

"Hold on a sec, I'll go get him." Alfred said, running into the kitchen. A moment later he came back with Arthur. Nobody said anything for a second. Arthur, who was standing next to Alfred, clutched his daddy's sleeve tightly and stared at the two newcomers.

"Hello Arthur, I'm your Uncle Matthew. It's nice to meet you. This is my friend Juan." Matthew finally said, breaking the silence.

"Hello Uncle Matthew. Hello Juan." Arthur responded, giving his usual shy smile.

Arthur got along well with both Matthew and his friend. They had a large lunch of sandwiches and fruit, and small talked about things. For once Alfred and Juan didn't insult each other too much. Arthur talked more as he usually did once he warmed up to somebody.

"So, what do you think?" Alfred asked Matthew once lunch was over. Arthur was playing outside with Matthew's polar bear whom had ended up sneaking in the back of Matthew's car.

"I think you guys made a good choice. Arthur seems like a really great kid." Matthew answered.

"He looks kinda small though." Juan spoke up.

"Take that back you damned Cuban! I didn't invite you over to insult my precious Artie! Actually, I don't remember inviting you over at all. The invitation was for Mattie!" Alfred growled.

"Chill man, I wasn't insulting him, I was just stating the facts!" Juan replied, holding his hands up in surrender. Alfred glared at him, but peeked at Arthur though the window. So he was a little small for his age, but why should that matter? The woman at the adoption center had said that Arthur had been underfed before he came there.

"Anyways, we should probably get going. Hey, feel free to bring Arthur over any time though." Matthew said.

"Will do Mattie, will do!" Alfred said, bringing his brother into a bone crushing hug. "See ya later!"

**...^J^...**

**The Purple Monster:  
**

Arthur was in a very tough situation. You see, it was sometime during the middle of the night. The house was absolutely quiet, except for the occasional creaking noises from the house. He couldn't even hear his father or daddy playing their game, so they were both probably sleeping. Arthur himself had just awoken from a very scary dream involving a flying purple monster living under the bed of children.

He wasn't an idiot, he knew that monsters weren't real. That didn't change his imagination form going wild though. It was just too dark and too quiet. Normally his parents would leave the hall light on until they went to bed themselves but now it was turned off. Arthur really didn't want to be alone. Besides, he thought he was starting to hear breathing coming from under his bed...

Without really thinking, the six year old slipped out from under the covers and padded across the room and down the hall to his father and daddy's room. It was a little creepy since the normally so lively house was completely silent and dark. He was quick to open his parent's bedroom door.

The room was completely dark, but he could vaguely see the outline of the big bed. He tiptoed over to the closest side of the bed. It happened to have been Ivan's side. The large Russian was snoring, and looked completely content in his sleep. Arthur really didn't think his father would take too kindly to being woken up. His daddy on the other hand...well, he never got angry. Heck, he would probably even welcome Arthur in.

He quietly walked around to the other side of the bed. His daddy looked pretty sound asleep too. He looked kinda funny without his glasses on. Anyways, Arthur tentatively reached out and shook his daddy's shoulder. Nothing happened, so Arthur shook a little harder. In response, Alfred turned over to face away form Arthur, murmuring out Ivan's name.

Arthur was beginning to grow aggravated. He was sleepy and it was scary just standing in the dark without being up on the big bed. He was left with one choice. Arthur promptly grasped onto the sheets and hoisted himself up. There wasn't enough room just on Alfred's side, to he climbed over Alfred to the middle of the bed, trying to make himself comfortable in between his parents. By accident, his elbow smacked Alfred's shoulder.

Alfred had been sleeping soundly in bed. Tonight had been one of the rare night when he and Ivan didn't make love, and had instead went right to sleep. Suddenly there was a sharp pain in his shoulder, and the American's eyes shot open. Ugh, was Ivan elbowing in his sleep again? Sighing, he reached over and slung an arm around his lover. Wow, Ivan sure seemed small...wait a second. Alfred looked closely, and was surprised to see their son making himself comfortable in between them.

"Artie? What are you doing here buddy?" He asked.

"Sleeping" Arthur muttered tiredly, burrowing himself into the covers more. It sure was warm in between his parents.

"Well I figured that much. But why are you sleeping in here?" Alfred tried again.

"Because of the purple monster." Arthur muttered again, pretty much asleep.

"Purple monster huh?" Alfred pondered to himself. "Well that's a good enough answer for me! Good night Artie." He said, pulling the child against his chest. He didn't get an answer, for Arthur was already asleep.

The next morning when Ivan awoke, he was surprised to see Arthur sleeping in between them.

"It looks like my husband was stolen from me for the night." He whispered in amusement. Not being able to help himself, he smiled. It really as an adorable sight. Arthur was clinging onto Alfred, and Alfred had his arms curled around the six year old, his face buried in the child's hair. Trying not to wake them, Ivan very quietly got could of the bed to get ready for work.

**...^J^...**

**Another side to parenting:  
**

Ivan and Alfred should have known that Arthur's quiet well behaved manor wouldn't last. Every child had inner naughtiness in them, but the two men were new to parenting and hadn't quite figured that out yet. During dinner about a month after they had gotten Arthur, they saw a new side of their sweet adorable innocent child. That nights dinner was chicken and potatoes. Not really unusual. Arthur's problem however, was his drink.

"Why don't I have chocolate milk?" Arthur asked sadly, staring at his normal cup of plain white milk. Usually every night at dinner he had chocolate milk. It tasted yummy and was better than normal milk.

"Sorry bud, we ran out of the chocolate mix" Alfred said apologetically. "You can have juice instead if you want."

"I don't want juice" Arthur said with a small pout, crossing his arms. "I want chocolate milk."

"I'll buy some at the store tomorrow Artie, I promise." Alfred told him.

"But I want some now!" Arthur said, his voice raised a bit. Ivan raised an eyebrow, appraising their normal obedient child.

"Arthur, drink your milk." He ordered softly.

"I don't want it!" Arthur said, sniffling. "I wont drink it! I wont!"

"Arthur Jones-Braginski, you either drink your milk or you have juice. Cut out that attitude right now." Ivan said again. Something seemed to trigger in Arthur, and soon he was bawling loudly, and violently pushed his cup of milk over. It's contents spilled all over the table and floor. Alfred and Ivan were stunned. What had happened to their sweet little Arthur?

"I-Ivie...what do we do?" Alfred whispered, on the verge of tears himself.

"Er...I'm not sure...but we can't let him get away with this." Ivan whispered back, before turning to Arthur once again. "Arthur, you go upstairs to your room right now for a time out. We do not tolerate tantrums at the dinner table."

"B-but I w-want my c-chocolate milk!" Arthur said, hiccuping over his words as his crying increased. He was a total mess. His nose was runny, and his face was streaked with tears.

"I said go to your room" Ivan repeated, his words surprisingly calm. "Unless you want a spanking then I suggest you get up there right now." Of course the threat was pretty much empty. He would never be able to bring himself to hurt Arthur, not ever.

Thankfully Arthur got up and ran to his room. They heard his little feet thudding up the stairs quickly before the door slammed shut. There was silence for a minute.

"Oh god Ivan, that was horrible! Why was he so upset? He's never been like that before. I should have bought more chocolate milk mix today! I'm such an awful parent!" Alfred cried out, almost on the verge of tears himself.

"Now now Alfred, calm yourself. I think this is normal behavior for children. He was just testing our limits. Besides, I think he's over tired. We did let him stay up late last night to watch that Scooby Doo movie..."

"My poor baby! Oh my gosh, he must be so exhausted!" Alfred said in horror.

"Alfred, calm down. Let's just leave him in there for ten minutes and then go talk to him. I think an early bedtime is in order."

"Okay, good idea. I'm gonna clean up." Alfred told him, looking at the milk covered table in mild distaste.

Ten minutes later Ivan and Alfred entered Arthur's room. Thankfully they didn't hear screaming. Arthur was instead sitting on his bed. What happened next was a little shocking. Arthur stood up and ran across the room, wrapping his arms tightly around Ivan's lets.

"I'm sorry father, I'm sorry daddy! I wont be bad again! Please don't hate me!" He whimpered.

"Shhh, it's alright little one. We could never hate you." Ivan said, bending over and lifting Arthur into his arms. Both parents murmured sweet nothings to their 'sweet precious baby' until finally Arthur was convinced that they weren't mad anymore. Soon after, he was given a bath and put to bed an hour early. Surprisingly Arthur didn't protest.

Later that night, Alfred and Ivan were laying comfortably in their bed. They had just finished their usual nightly fun time, and now Ivan had one arm wrapped around Alfred's shoulder.

"Today was so scary...you don't think he'll have another episode like that, do you?" Alfred asked his lover.

"I'm sorry to break it to you, but he probably will. All children have their fits. I am sure that you had plenty tantrums yourself my spoiled sunflower. Actually scratch that, you _still do_ throw tantrums." Ivan told him.

"Meanie" Alfred said, smacking Ivan lightly. "Seriously though, he's never acted out like that before. And it was all because of milk...what's wrong with white milk anyway? I think it's pretty good."

"I'm not sure. Arthur probably just has a sweet tooth, like many other children. You should be able to sympathize, due to that fact that you prefer junk food as well."

"But I still like regular milk!" Alfred protested.

"Do not worry my sweet, Arthur will grow out of acting like that. He is only six." Ivan assured him.

"I know. Well, night babe. I love you." Alfred said.

"I love you too."

The next day, Alfred took Arthur to the store and they bought ten boxes of chocolate milk mix. Never would he let his Artie run out of chocolate milk again.

**...^J^...**

**Auntie Katyusha and Auntie Natalia:  
**

Alfred really wasn't having that much fun. He had a very good reason though! That reason involved Ivan. Much to Alfred's distaste, Ivan's two sisters Katyusha and Natalia were up for a visit. Normally they only came during April or December. It happened to be summer right now. Unfortunately Ivan had told them about Arthur, which instantly made Katyusha want to come to visit them in America and meet him.

Katyusha was one thing. Alfred could completely handle her. She was a very kind woman and instantly treated Alfred like another brother. No, it was the other sister who was a problem. Ever since he had started dating Ivan, Natalia despised him. Apparently she had wanted to marry Ivan herself. Now how creepy was that? She was Ivan's sister though, and because of that Alfred did his best to be nice to her. She had proven to be quite an amount of trouble though. For instance, she had almost crashed their wedding!

The last time the sisters had visited Alfred had caught Natalia holding a butcher knife at eleven o'clock at night. A freaking butcher knife! It turns out she had just been cutting some meat for a midnight snack, but still! Alfred really didn't want his innocent baby boy to be around such a violent woman. Another thing had to do with the fact that Ivan strictly made it clear that they were not to make love when his sisters were visiting, because it was rude. Alfred really didn't like that... besides, Natalia was rude to him all the time! God only knows why Ivan puts up with such a family. Well, he supposed that it was just because they were his sisters. But no matter what he always tried to get along with Natalia. After all, Ivan always got along with Mattie, so he had to return the favor.

Ivan had driven over to the airport that morning to pick them up while Alfred waited at home with Arthur. As soon as they had made it back, Katyusha had practically burst through the door demanding to see her new nephew. When she saw Arthur, who was laying on the floor coloring, she had burst into tears, picking up the startled child and squeezing him tightly.

"Oh he's such an adorable sweet thing!" She had told Alfred joyfully. "I can't believe I'm an Auntie! This is so wonderful!"

It had been a bit different with Natalia. She had walked inside with Ivan, and once they had made it inside she studied Arthur with distaste. Arthur smiled a little nervously and waved at her, and all she did was open her mouth and respond, "If you had married me brother then we wouldn't have had to adopt. I would be able to bear your children."

"Ew, what the fuck is wrong with you?" Alfred asked, wrinkling his nose in disgust. Ivan shuddered as well.

"Sister, what a rude thing to say!" Katyusha scolded. "And especially in front of your new nephew!"

The rest of the day had been alright. They all went to a lake nearby since it was so hot. After lathering Arthur with enough suncream to drown a small animal he had let him go swimming, but only to his waist since Arthur wasn't the best swimmer.

"It's so wonderful that you adopted him from London. That little English accent is adorable." Katyusha told them as she poured all the adults lemonade. "I can't believe the poor thing had such a horrible life."

"I know" Ivan replied. "But now he has a wonderful home. Now our family is complete."

"You had a good family before you decided to come to America and get married to an idiot." Natalia butted in.

"Hey, I'm not an idiot!" Alfred whined.

"Sister, I wish you would be happy for me." Ivan said sadly.

"How could I possibly be happy for you? You left your homeland Mother Russia to this stupid country, then you got married and settled down here instead of moving back after your education, and now you adopted a little brat!" She told them.

"Hey, be careful with the way you talk about our kid." Alfred warned. "He's half the man you'll ever be!"

"I'm a woman you imbecile!" Natalia hissed.

"Alright now, that's enough arguing you two" Katyusha butted in, gesturing over to Arthur, who was done playing in the water and coming back over to them.

"Are you done playing Arthur? Ready for lunch?" Ivan asked.

"Yes father. Can I have an apple?" Arthur answered, taking a seat in his father's lap.

"You sure can. Here you go buddy." Alfred said, reaching into the cooler and pulling out an apple and passing it to Arthur.

Later that night Alfred was reading Arthur his nightly story before putting him to bed. Since they only had one guest bedroom, they were letting Arthur sleep in their bed again since they weren't going to let their little boy sleep all alone downstairs on the couch and Ivan wasn't going to make one of his sisters sleep there either. Natalia was taking a shower in the bathroom, which left Ivan and Katyusha downstairs in the living room by themselves.

"You really did make a good choice in adopting him Ivan" Katyusha said softly. "Please don't let Natalia get to you guys...you know how she is. She means well."

"Don't worry, I understand how our little sister is" Ivan told her reassuringly. "She'll come to love Arthur eventually. I don't see why couldn't fall in love with such an adorable child."

"You have done very well with your life, brother. You have a very big and important job, you have a charming and fun husband, and now you have a sweet little boy. I am very proud of you." Katyusha said.

Ivan felt his heart swell with pride from her words.

She was absolutely right.

(Coming up next: Gilbert and Arthur have a play date, and Arthur starts first grade!)

**a/n: I already had this halfway written from yesterday, and I finished it today since all of your fantastic reviews gave me the inspiration to type! Thank you so much to everyone who has either read, reviewed, favorited, or followed this story. You guys are the best!**


	3. School

**Gilbert comes over:**

Alfred was having an amazing dream involving talking hamburgers. To top that off, his covers were soft and warm from Ivan's amazing amount of body heat, and the pillows were nice and fluffy. Ah, he could sleep forever. Sadly his hope of sleeping forever was demolished by the feeling of someone little climbing over his legs and into the bed. He tried to ignore the feeling, and closed his eyes tighter. Suddenly a little finger poked his forehead, causing him to open his eyes. He was greeted by the sight of Arthur.

"Good morning!" The six year old greeted him. Alfred groaned to himself. Morning? For pete's sake it was still dark out! His eyes moved towards the alarm clock and he cringed.

"Artie, five thirty isn't morning for daddy. Five thirty is still sleepy time." He told him, trying to close his eyes once again.

"But it's almost time for my play date." Arthur informed him.

"Your play date isn't until noon!" Alfred said in disbelief. Ivan and Alfred had set it up so that another six year old named Gilbert Beilschmidt would come over and play for a few hours this afternoon. They had told Arthur yesterday, and ever since then the kid had been very excited. It had been hell getting him to bed last night, and apparently Arthur was too excited to sleep in as well.

"I told him the same thing." Ivan said from the other side of the bed. Alfred's face brightened a little.

"Oh, hey babe! Good morning. So you got woken up too huh?" Alfred asked him.

"Yes, but I have to get up for work anyway. Good luck with Arthur today." Ivan said, bending over and kissing Alfred on the lips and kissing Arthur on the forehead before heading to the bathroom to take his morning shower before work. Alfred glanced over at Arthur, who was looking at him expectantly, and sighed.

"Let's go back to sleep for a bit, okay?" He said, reaching out and pulling Arthur against him. He got to close his eyes for approximately five minutes.

"Daddy, can we have breakfast yet?"

"But Artie, it's only five fourty!" Alfred whined. "Can't you wait a bit longer?"

"I'm hungry though..." Arthur said quietly, his lower lip trembling and green eyes downcast. Alfred was sitting upright in less than a second.

"Come on, let's get you some breakfast! I can't sleep knowing that your tummy needs nourishment!"

"Pancakes, waffles, scrambled eggs, over easy eggs, sunny side up eggs, cereal, muffins, english muffins, sausage, bagels, croissants, toast, breakfast pizza, or doughnuts?" Alfred asked Arthur once they both arrived into the kitchen.

"All of them!" Arthur replied.

"Aw geez, all of them? No offense Artie, but that could take awhile. Can't you just choose one?" Alfred asked. Arthur tilted his head to the side in thought.

"Ummm...a muffin!"

"Okie dokie!" Alfred said enthusiastically. "What kind of muffin? Strawberry, blueberry, cinnamon, chocolate chip, pumpkin, banana, poppy seed, apple, raisin, cranberry, multigrain, bran, or oat?"

"Ummm...blueberry!"

"Wonderful choice!" Alfred said. "Now how about a drink? White milk, chocolate milk, strawberry milk, apple juice, orange juice, grape juice, wild berry splash juice, pineapple juice, juicy juice, raspberry lemonade, tang, iced tea, or Gatorade?"

Arthur sat in his seat, eyes wide as he pondered his choices silently.

"Come on Arthur, I don't have all day!" Alfred said in a persisting manor.

"Perhaps the child would be able to choose if you didn't overwhelm him with so many different choices. Besides, we don't even have half of those drinks. Does chocolate milk sound fine Arthur?" Ivan cut in from the doorway. He was already dressed and ready for work.

"Yes please!" Arthur answered.

"Heheh, alrighty then, one blueberry muffin with a cold glass of chocolate milk." Alfred said, presenting the meal in front of the six year old. "Now what do you say?"

"Thank you daddy" Arthur said, sinking his little teeth into the large muffin.

"No problem" Alfred said before getting his own breakfast.

"Well, I'm off to work. Be good for your daddy Arthur, and have fun with your friend." Ivan said, ruffling his son's hair.

"Good luck at work. I love you my sweet commie bastard." Alfred said lovingly, pressing his lips to Ivan's. The kiss started out simple, but after a few seconds it turned out into a full blown out make out session. Alfred had his hands tangled into Ivan's hair, and Ivan's arms were slung around his American lover's waist, pulling him closer.

"Alfred, remember that we have a child now." Ivan said. He indicated to Arthur, who was still nibbling on his muffin and looking completely oblivious.

"Look at him Ivan, he doesn't even care. How about a quick round upstairs before work?" Alfred suggested with a wink.

"Come now sunflower be reasonable. I must leave for work right now if I am to get there on time." Ivan told him.

"Awww, but babe! That's never stopped us before. I'm sure they wont care if you're late for just one day!" Alfred said desperately, kissing Ivan's neck before reconnecting to his lips.

"Tonight after Arthur goes to bed, alright my sweet?" Ivan promised, breaking the kiss and pecking Alfred on the nose.

"Fine" Alfred said with a pout. Ivan laughed, saying goodbye one more time before leaving. He turned to Arthur, who had pushed his half eaten muffin away from himself.

"Done already?" Alfred asked in a tone crossed between amusement and concern. Arthur didn't have the biggest appetite in the world, but the doctor said that he needed plenty of food and nutrition. That was why Alfred also gave Arthur a kids vitamin every morning as well.

"...It was a big muffin." Arthur said. "When is it going to be noon?"

"Not for a few hours. Now take your vitamin and get dressed. I'm gonna hop in the shower, okay?"

Time seemed to pass by very slowly for Arthur. He had gotten dressed, made his bed, read three books, and it still wasn't noon yet. Finally he settled for sitting in the living room watching Tv while his daddy went on the laptop to work on his website. Finally, FINALLY, the doorbell rang.

Alfred went to open it and was greeted by a man with icy blue eyes and slicked back blonde hair. He was also very muscular. Standing below him was a boy who was a little bit taller than Arthur himself. He had really weird red eyes, and his hair was silver!

"Hello Mr. Beilschmidt, it's good to see you." Alfred greeted the tall man warmly. "And hello to you too Gilbert."

Alfred had first met Mr. Beilschmidt at Ivan's company. Ludwig, as his name turned out to be, was purchasing some stuff from Ivan's company and had gotten lost. Alfred, being very familiar with his husband's work, had directed him to the front desks. They had talked though, and Alfred had found out that Ludwig had a little brother who was going into first grade soon. That had been one of the triggers to cause Alfred to want to adopt.

Ludwig ended up staying to chat with Alfred for a few minutes before leaving. Now the fun could start. Arthur had never really gotten to play with someone his age before. This was the first time really, and he wanted to make the best of it. But as he turned his attention to Gilbert, who was standing a few feet away from him, he began to feel awkward.

"So, what do you want to do?" He asked, finally breaking the silence.

"I dunno. What's there to do?" Gilbert responded easily. Arthur found himself at a loss. What was there to do? What did children normally do when they had play dates? Well obviously play...but how? Alfred could sense that Arthur was speechless and thankfully came to his rescue.

"Artie, why don't you take Gilbert upstairs and show him your room? Maybe you guys could find something to do up there." He suggested. Arthur smiled thankfully and nodded, telling Gilbert to follow him as they ventured up the stairs. Alfred partly felt the urge to follow them, but decided to leave them to their fun and go start on lunch. Would Gilbert like peanut butter and jelly? Yeah, all kids liked that.

Meanwhile upstairs, Arthur showed Gilbert his room. The albino child's eyes lit up when he saw how many toys filled the room. He was particularly interested in a couple of fake cap guns that Arthur possessed. Alfred had gotten them for Arthur despite Ivan's disapproval. The Russian didn't think that six year olds should be accustomed to guns, even if they were fake, but Alfred insisted that they were harmless and fun.

"Want to play cowboys and Indians?" Gilbert finally asked. Arthur felt his heart sink a little. He didn't enjoy cowboys that much. It just seemed weird to wear funny hats and gallop around swinging a lasso. Honestly, it seemed that cowboys belonged in the circus rather than the West. His daddy seemed to love cowboys for some reason, but Arthur much preferred pirates.

"Can't we play pirates instead?" He asked, praying that his question wouldn't make Gilbert mad. To his surprise, Gilbert instead gave a toothy grin. Well, sort of toothy, because he was missing both of his top teeth. Arthur hadn't lost any teeth yet. When would he start loosing his? Gilbert was the same age as him...anyway, Gilbert was still grinning.

"I got a great idea! Why don't we play Pirates vs Cowboys?" He suggested.

"Yeah, that's a good idea!" Arthur said with approval.

The next thirty minutes consisted of running around the room playing pretend. Arthur's bed was his pirate ship, and and carpet was water. Gilbert used a sheet for his cowboy fort, and they would jump to and forth mock battling and fighting. Arthur's room was a disaster, but he would worry about that later. Eventually Alfred called them down to lunch, so there game ended temporarily. After lunch, they winded up outside. Alfred was still paranoid about the whole nail fiasco, so he made sure that each of the boys wore sneakers.

"You know what we could do? We could make our own campsite and pretend that we're stranded in the wilderness!" Gilbert told him.

"Okay! That sounds like fun." Arthur agreed. For the next few minutes they played this game, until Gilbert had another idea to go with it.

"We should make a fire, to make sure that the wild animals don't kill us." He said. "Mein older bruder always watches survival shows, and they always make fires in case there are wolves around."

"But there aren't any wolves here" Arthur pointed out.

"In our game there are!" Gilbert told him. "There's wolves, and tigers, and...and man eating birds!"

"Woah" Arthur said, eyes wide. "You're right then. We better make one!"

After gathering some twigs and sticks, Gilbert proceeded to rub two of them against each other. Sadly making a fire this way was proving to be difficult.

"It's not working!" Gilbert finally said, throwing the sticks aside.

"Well...we can have a pretend fire." Arthur quietly said.

"But it isn't the same" Gilbert whined. "We have a fire pit and mein brothers always starts it with a lighter, and then the fire stays lit because of all the wood. Do your parents have a lighter?"

"Yes, but I'm not allowed to touch it." Arthur told him, his thoughts flashing back to the day he had first arrived. Alfred and Ivan had told him never to touch the lighter. That's why they kept it up high on top of the fridge, so he couldn't get to it.

"Who cares if you're not allowed? Mein brother and Grandfather always tell me I'm not allowed to do things, but I do them anyway!"

"Why?" Arthur asked, a little weirded out.

"Because if you don't go against the rules then the grown ups will have the satisfaction of winning!"

Arthur frowned. He wasn't aware that rules were a game. Gilbert was sort of making sense though, in a way. Plus he didn't want his new friend to get mad, not when they had been having so much fun. That was why both boys wound up sneaking into the kitchen. Alfred was in the living room watching TV, and they made sure to be very quiet. Together they dragged a chair to the fridge, and since Gilbert was taller he was the one to stand on it.

It was scary, especially since Arthur knew he was doing a bad thing. Gilbert said that it was okay to do break the rules as long as nobody saw you. Besides, it would all be worth it once they got the fire started and could continue their game. Soon they had successfully gotten a hold of it, and raced back out doors.

"Be careful okay? Don't let anything bad happen." Arthur said, feeling his heart race a little. Hopefully Alfred wouldn't decide to peek out the window and see them.

A few minutes later, Gilbert had gotten a small little fire going in the small fire pit they had made. Now they got back to their game! Unfortunately for Gilbert and Arthur, Alfred decided to see if they wanted to come inside and watch Harry Potter since it had just come on. He opened the back kitchen door the call to them, but he was greeted by an alarming sight. There was a small fire out in the middle of the yard, and his precious little Arthur and Gilbert were playing with it! What was even worse was the fact that Gilbert was holding a lighter. A lighter of all things! Hadn't he told Arthur not to touch the lighter? That had been one of the biggest rules!

"ARTHUR KIRKLAND JONES-BRAGINSKI, YOU GET AWAY FROM THAT FIRE RIGHT NOW MISTER!" Alfred yelled, running as fast as he could over to the scene of the crime. Both boys jumped at the voice, and instantly knew they were in big trouble.

"Mein gott, we're in for it now!" Gilbert whispered as they stepped away form the fire.

Alfred ran over to them, and began furiously stamping out the fire. After the fire was demolished, he then snatched the lighter from Gilbert's hand. Then after that, he began checking them both for any burns.

Once Alfred was convinced that neither of the boys were injured, he then marched both of them inside.

"What the heck were you guys thinking? Artie, I told you never to touch the lighter!" Alfred said in his best parental lecturing tone.

"I know" Arthur said softly, eyes downcast. "But we needed a fire for out game. Plus we were careful..."

"God dammit, do you know how dangerous fire is? You two are in big trouble!" Alfred said, dragging each of them into the living room. What was he going to do with them? Neither kid could get away with such a horrible thing! Finally he decided that it was time for Gilbert to go home.

"Both of you sit on separate ends of the couch, and no talking. I'm calling your brother to come and get you Gilbert." He finally settled on saying. Neither boy said anything, sitting where Alfred had told them to. Arthur's stomach was quivering, and he felt awful. What he didn't knoew however, was that Alfred was feeling even worse.

"Dammit...I should have watched them better. I'm an awful parent!" He cried out to himself when he had hung up with a furious Ludwig, who was coming to get Gilbert straight away. Alfred then settled upon calling Ivan. His beautiful amazing sweet large nosed husband always made him feel better! So he ended up calling Ivan at work and explained everything.

"It's not your fault sunflower. They know very well that they shouldn't have." Ivan said soothingly.

"What should I do with Arthur? I suck at being stern..."

"You make him have a long time out. I'll give him a talking to when I get home, which should be in about two hours if everything goes well. We've been pretty busy today." Ivan told him.

"Okay. Hurry home Ivan, I miss you. You also have a promise to keep about tonight." He said.

"Yes, yes I know. You don't have to worry my sweet one." Ivan said. "Plus we make love every night anyway, so it's hardly something that wont happen."

When Ludwig arrived, he was very angry at his little brother, and kept apologizing to Alfred for Gilbert's misbehavior. Alfred kept assuring him that it was both of the boys fault, and that everything had turned out okay. That didn't stop Ludwig from dragging his brother out to the car by the ear, telling him how furious their Grandfather was going to be. Finally that left just Alfred and Arthur in the house.

"Alright, it's time to have a talk" Alfred said, sitting down on the couch. He pulled Arthur into his lap. "Now why would you want to make a fire Artie? Those things can be dangerous. I found out that the hard way when I accidentally caught the curtains on fire when I was six...but anyway, why did you do it?"

"Because..." Arthur muttered.

"Because why?"

"Because Gilbert said it would be okay as long as you didn't see. I made sure he was careful." Arthur told him, green eyes blinking back tears.

"Now who do you think you're supposed to listen to, me or Gilbert?" Alfred asked him.

"You" Arthur told him.

"Exactly. So that means you don't let anybody tell you to do something...unless it's your father." Alfred said.

"Okay. Are you mad at me?" Arthur asked.

"Nah, I was mostly just scared. Promise never to play with fire again, got it?"

"Got it" Arthur told him. Alfred kissed Arthur's mop of blonde hair and decided that Arthur didn't need a time out. He had seemed to have learned his lesson.

Little did Alfred know, the fire was only one of the minor stunts that Arthur and Gilbert would cause over the course of the years.

**...^J^...**

**Man of the house:  
**

"Alfred, I don't see why you're so upset" Ivan said in amusement. "I am only stating the facts."

"Nuh uh!" Alfred responded, sticking his tongue out childishly. "You're just a big fat liar!"

"But it's true!" Ivan told him.

"No it's not you commie! _I am_ the man of the house, not you!" Alfred said, poking Ivan in the chest.

"But I am the one who works more hours. You always stay here with Arthur, and you also cook more. To top that off, you always bottom." Ivan said, listing off each statement with his fingers.

"So? You do most of the laundry, and you always stand in front of the mirror for hours making sure you look good for work! And I DO NOT always bottom. I top plenty of times!"

"Oh really? Name the last time you did." Ivan said.

"...Well I can't just remember off the top of my head! The point is that you are not telling the truth!" Alfred said, his face growing a little red.

"Which proves that I am the man of the house" Ivan concluded.

"No way! It's not up to you to determine that!" Alfred protested.

"Then who is it up to? It's not up to you to determine either." Ivan informed him. Alfred hesitated for a second, deep in thought before an idea came to him.

"Were going to ask Arthur!" He said.

"At eleven o'clock at night? Absolutely not, he's sleeping." Ivan told him.

"It's fine, we'll just wake ihm up real quick to ask. Besides, it's not like he has to wake up early tomorrow anyway." Alfred reassured his husband. "Don't you want our baby's opinion? It's the most important one!"

"But...ugh...fine!" Ivan gave up, defeated. "But just very quickly."

They raced down the hall to Arthur's room. The room was quiet and peaceful. Arthur slept soundly in his bed, clutching his stuffed rabbit to his chest. For once, it was Alfred and Ivan disturbing him from his sleep instead of the other way around. Alfred gingerly sat Arthur up, causing the sleeping child to open his eyes.

"Is it morning?" Arthur asked groggily.

"Not yet. Father and daddy just have a question." Ivan said. "Which one of us is more manlier? Who do you think it the strongest?"

"Me" Arthur murmured, trying to twist out of Alfred's grip to lay back down. Alfred snorted in amusement.

"We know your the strongest Artie, but what about us? Who acts more like a man? Father or daddy?"

Arthur didn't respond, his eyes closed as his head rested against Alfred.

"Arthur? Which on of us is more manlier?" Ivan asked softly.

"Daddy" Arthur finally said. Alfred whooped joyfully, and Ivan spluttered.

"W-what? Why? Why would you say such a thing?" Ivan asked Arthur, shaking him slightly.

"Because you were singing that girly pop song yesterday. Please can I go back to sleep?" Arthur asked, eyes still closed.

"Of course you can buddy. Thanks for the input." Alfred said, laying Arthur back down and re-tucking him in. Ivan was still at a loss for words.

"Score one for Alfred, score zero for Ivan" Alfred said, winking devilishly at Ivan.

"Well see about that" Ivan said, his arms folded.

"Sure babe, whatever. Now let's go have fun time!" Alfred said excitedly, taking Ivan's hand and pulling him back to the bedroom. Ivan sighed but followed. Obviously Arthur had just been too sleepy to make such decisions, so it wouldn't count. He would get a better answer tomorrow, at the start of a new day!

**...^J^...**

**Facing the Facts:  
**

"W-what?" Alfred asked again in disbelief. "What in the hell are you talking about?"

"Alfred, it's time to face the facts" Ivan said again with a sigh. "Summertime is almost over. Arthur is six years old, which means that he belongs in school. First grade to be exact. We cannot avoid this."

"But...but Artie belongs here at home. With me!" Alfred stated, his eyes still wide with disbelief.

"Our son needs to learn. It happens to be a requirement, that each child gets an education. Besides, don't you want Arthur to get into a good college someday?"

"Well yeah but...but he's just a baby!" Alfred said.

"He is also six years old. The new year starts in two weeks. That is plenty of time to get him ready." Ivan said, laying a comforting hand on Alfred's shoulder.

"I'll be all alone though..." Alfred stated sadly, before an idea came to mind. "Wait Ivan, how about I home school him? I mean, I've been to college, and plus I have a stay at home job! How much better could that work out?"

"Darling, I know that you have the brains to teach him, but there are other reasons" Ivan told him. "For one, he needs to get more social interaction with other children. And also, I have a feeling that if you home schooled him then he would know more about superheros rather than addition or subtraction."

"Dammit...so there's no way around this is there? We have to send Artie away...all by himself in a foreign place surrounded by strangers, left to sit in a cold hard chair all day." Alfred said with an over dramatic sigh.

"Alfred it is first grade" Ivan restated to him in amusement. "You act like we're going to send him to a Gulag. He will only be gone from eight until two. That is only six or so hours. You'll hardly even notice that he's gone."

"THAT'S SO LONG!" Alfred cried out dramatically. "What am I going to do with my life? All of my devotion is drawn to making sure that Artie is well cared for. Now a huge piece of my heart will be missing for a good part of the day!"

"I go to work everyday, but you survive don't you? Arthur will be gone for even less time then me. Besides, we've barely even had him for two months. You have survived with being alone at home before we got him, so I am persuaded that you will do just fine."

"I'm still going to miss him." Alfred muttered.

"I know, but look at it this way. You'll have more time to yourself. You can relax at home and work on your website in peace." Ivan pointed out.

"Where am I going?" Arthur, who had only heard the last part of the conversation, asked curiously.

"To school" Ivan told him, as if he was announcing that he had won the lottery.

"Okay" Arthur said, face mutual.

"But Artie, it's school" Alfred informed him in disbelief. "You're going to have to sit down all day and slave away doing work. Wouldn't you rather stay home with daddy?"

"I think it'll be fun." Arthur responded. "Hey, are we having company beef casserole for dinner? When will it be ready?"

"In about ten minutes. Why don't you go wash your hands and then help me set the table?" Ivan suggested. Arthur nodded and went to the sink. Alfred still stood there in shock. Why wasn't Arthur screaming or crying or refusing to go? Wouldn't he rather stay home?

"Relax sunflower, this will be good for him." Ivan said comfortingly, patting Alfred's shoulder.

**...^J^...**

**The First Day  
**

Two weeks later, Alfred and Ivan both stood with Arthur outside his new classroom. So far Alfred had been inspecting everything, from how clean the water fountains were to the hung up artwork in the halls. So far it didn't look horrible, but he wasn't convinced that Arthur deserved to be stuck here all day.

"Ready to see your classroom?" Ivan asked Arthur.

"Yup!" Arthur nodded. He was dressed in new clothes, and on his shoulders was a Spiderman backpack that Alfred had bought him. Inside that backpack was a pencil box full of crayons and markers, and a lunchbox containing a well made lunch by Alfred. Ivan opened the door, and they family was greeted by the sight of other children Arthur's age. Other parents were in the room too, saying goodbye to their kids and wishing them good luck.

Alfred observed the classroom closely. There were pictures of animals on the walls, and a colorful letter and number chart. There were miniature desks and chairs, but there was also a rug with pillows on the floor, most likely for story time or something. After looking at the classroom, he then turned his attention to the children themselves. Suddenly his stomach lurched with horror, and he grabbed onto Ivan's sleeve.

"Ivan, look at all of them!" He hissed.

"What about them?" Ivan asked.

"They...they're all taller than Artie! He's going to be one of the shortest ones here! Oh god, what if they pick on him? Ivan, we can't leave him here. He have to take him home where he belongs!" Alfred shouted.

"He looks fine to me." Ivan said, pointing across the room. There was Arthur, who had left them while Alfred and Ivan had been talking. He was sitting on the rub talking with Gilbert, who was in this class too, as well as a little Spanish boy with brown hair and green eyes (But a different shade of green then Arthur's eyes).

"He looks really happy. It looks like you don't have to be worried at all." Ivan said with a grin. "Now I need to get to work. Why don't we say goodbye and then leave Arthur to his friends?"

"Okay" Alfred said quietly, still observing Arthur. He had that usual shy grin, but he looked to be on the verge of laughing. Alfred and Ivan walked over to Arthur, both of them kneeling down.

"We're going to leave now, alright? Daddy will pick you up when it's time to go." Ivan said. "Have fun, alright?"

"Yeah, have a good time kiddo." Alfred added halfheartedly.

"I will. Bye father, bye daddy!" Arthur said, turning back to his friends. Ivan and Alfred then promptly left the classroom. Ivan was going to drop Alfred back off at home before going off to work himself. Most of the ride was silent, as Alfred just kept looking out the window.

"It really is for the best." Ivan spoke up.

"I know. But that doesn't stop me from missing him. He could have changed his mind right now. What if he's crying right now because he misses us? What if terrorists invade the school and kidnap him? What is regular kidnappers kidnap him? What if...what if a pack of wild llamas trample over him during recess? So many things could happen!" Alfred ranted. "We should turn the car around right now. Or at the very least call the school to check up on him. Or...or...something!"

"Calm down!" Ivan interrupted him. "We just left the school less than ten minutes ago. Honestly sunflower, pull yourself together."

By now they had reached the house, and Ivan pulled into the driveway.

"Have fun at work" Alfred said, eyes downcast as he got ready to leave the car.

"Hold on a moment" Ivan said. When Alfred paused, Ivan drew him into a loving kiss. "Cheer up darling. Remember to pick him up at two. Make sure you have a snack ready for him when he comes home as well."

"Okay, I will" Alfred promised, getting out of the car. "Bye babe!"

Once the car was out of view, Alfred sighed sadly and went into the house. It was so empty! What was he going to do now? It was only eight thirty. Usually at this time he would pick out clothes for Arthur to wear and watch TV with him. Now he had to watch television himself...

He sat down in the armchair, clicking on the TV. There was nothing good on, just a bunch of advertisements. Suddenly, a McDonald's commercial came on. Ronald McDonald was dancing across the screen, and then a random chubby man bit into a burger. That was when it came to Alfred; a solution to all his new problems! He quickly turned off the TV and grabbed his car keys, taking off towards the garage.

He had to get to McDonald's to get an application for a job.

**a/n: Yay, this is my longest chapter yet! Almost 5,000 words, can you believe it? Well I was babysitting my cousin and I had nothing better to do since it's so hot and humid outside. By the way, thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, it really makes my day and causes me to get into a typing mood. **

**My family is coming up all the way from Nebraska in a few days, so I might be busy since we're going to a bunch of amusement parks. I'll try to find the time to type when I can, okay? **

**Tell me what you think!**


	4. Life as a six year old

**I tried to make this chapter longer because my family from Nebraska is coming up for the week and I'm not sure how much time I will have to type while they're here. So perhaps don't expect another update till sometime next week. Thank you so much for everyone who has reviewed, favorited, or followed this story so far!**

**Note: If you have any requests or ideas for things that you want me to include in the story then feel free to review or PM me!  
**

**...^J^...  
**

**Alfred's New Job:**

"Absolutely not." Ivan declared to Alfred sternly, his arms crossed.

"But babe, this is perfect!" Alfred tried reasoning with him. "Now that Artie is away all day at school I have nothing to do. Taking up another job is the only solution!"

"I will not have my husband working at a greasy fast food restaurant. Besides, you already have a very well paying job that you can do at home." Ivan stated.

"It's a great place to work at! They hired me straight away since I already know everything on the menu and all the prices and stuff. Besides, my job at home is too easy, I can handle them both. Just think Ivie, we can add all the extra money I make to Artie's future college fund!" Alfred told him excitedly.

"We already make enough money as it is. Sunflower, do you know how unhealthy McDonald's is? I can deal with you going out to eat there every so often, but I will not stand for you working there." Ivan told him.

It had been a few days since Arthur's first day of school. Arthur of course loved it. He wouldn't stop telling them about events that occurred there. The only thing he didn't enjoy was one of the students there, Francis Bonnefoy. Apparently they were 'enemies for life'.

Alfred had applied for the McDonald's job (Day time shifts only) and had gotten the job on the spot. The boss had been very impressed. Hell, he didn't even need training. Ivan however, had it in his head that Alfred working at such a place was not a good idea.

"But it's such a fun place to work at!" Alfred desperately tried to convince him. "Artie buddy, doesn't it sound cool that I'm going to be working at McDonald's while you're at school?"

"No. That stuff tastes yucky." Arthur, who was sitting at the table practicing his letters, said without hesitation.

"What the heck are you talking about? All kids love fast food!" Alfred stated in disbelief.

"Not all kids like it, and Arthur does have a very good point. Almost everything on the menu is, for lack of a better word, yucky." Ivan added.

"What...but...uh, I cannot believe that you guys are both teaming up on me! Plus it's not like you have control over where I work anyway. I am a human being, and American! That means that I can work wherever I please."

"I am your husband, therefore I am allowed to have a say in whatever you do." Ivan informed him.

"Well I'm your husband too, so therefore I have a say in what_ you do_!" Alfred shot back.

"We aren't talking about me, we are talking about you." Ivan told him. Suddenly instead of glaring, Alfred gave Ivan the puppy dog look, which also happened to be Ivan's weakness when it came to his American husband.

"D-don't you love me?" Alfred asked him.

"Now what kind of a question is that? Of course I love you." Ivan reassured him, cupping Alfred's face with his hands.

"Then please let me work at McDonald's. It would really make me happy, and I wouldn't be so lonely at the house all day." Alfred pleaded.

"Well..." Ivan debated to himself. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. He would rather have Alfred stink of grease rather then be all depressed since he didn't have Arthur to take care of. "Fine, but only on one condition. Do not eat everything there just because you will get a discount. I do not want a diabetic husband, are we clear?"

"Crystal!" Alfred replied, wrapping his arms around Ivan. "Thanks so much babe, I can't wait to start tomorrow!"

"I just hope this isn't a mistake" Ivan said with a sigh, turning to their son. "Come now Arthur, let me check how those letters are coming out. Ah, you have very neat handwriting for someone your age."

And thus Alfred began his job at McDonald's.

**...^J^...**

**Two Daddies:**

Alfred had just gotten out of work. It had been three weeks since his first day of work, and he was 'lovin it' as those commercials always say. Anyways, now that his shift had ended he was on his way to pick Arthur up at school. Alfred let Arthur take the bus to school in the mornings when he was there to supervise it, but there was no way in hell he would allow his baby to endure a bus ride home.

"Hey kiddo, how was school?" Alfred asked, grinning as Arthur walked into the school lobby to greet him. Instead of getting the usual big smile and eager chatter, Arthur instead only shrugged, his shoulders slumped.

"It was okay."

Alfred frowned. Okay? Since when was school just okay for Arthur? Usually it was 'great' or 'really fun' but never just 'okay'. Had something happened at school today? Oh god, what if someone took advantage of him? What if bullies stole his lunch, or beat him up? First grade was such a dangerous place, Alfred had been right! Instead of voicing these opinions, he instead lifted Arthur up.

"Only okay? Well we better get home and fix that right away with some cupcakes I bought at the store." He said, making quick strides towards the exit.

One hour and two chocolate frosted cupcakes later, Arthur was still quiet and upset. Alfred kept trying to ask him if something had happened, but his attempts at finding out were hopeless. Finally he settled for putting Pirates of the Caribbean in for Arthur, and together they settled down on the couch to watch it.

A few hours later Ivan came home and they all sat down for dinner. Obviously Ivan sensed how down Arthur looked as well, and he pulled Alfred aside to ask him about it. "I have no clue why he's like this. He's been like this since I've picked him up from school." Alfred had responded to him.

"Okay, time for a bath and then story." Alfred said enthusiastically once dinner was finished. Instead of following him up the stairs like usual, Arthur stayed put in the living room.

"Can I ask you guys something?" He asked, shuffling his feet nervously.

"Of course!" Ivan, who had been sitting in the armchair, responded. "You can tell us anything. We'll always listen, so don't ever hesitate to tell us what's on your mind. Perhaps something has been bothering you? You can feel free to-"

"Sure thing Artie, of course you can." Alfred cut Ivan off. The whole family moved to the couch, Arthur sitting in between his parents. There was silence for a moment.

"So, what did you want to ask us?" Ivan finally asked.

"Is it normal to have two daddies?" Arthur asked abruptly. "Today someone said that having two daddies is creepy and weird."

Arthur's words caught both Ivan and Alfred very off guard. They looked at one another, each unsure of what to say. So this was what was bothering Arthur so much? They had been under the impression that Arthur understood how couples could go both ways around. It was easy to forget that he was so young.

"Artie bud..." Alfred finally said, hesitating over his words. "Of course it's normal. It's just a little more uncommon."

"Right" Ivan agreed. "It is usually a man and a woman who marry and have family. However, if two men or two woman meet each other and fall into a very deep love, then it is absolutely fine."

"You don't even listen to what other kids tell you. Odds are that the kid who told you that will end up getting punched in the face someday. If he ever says an out right insult then I give you permission to punch him yourself."

"Nyet" Ivan disagreed, smacking Alfred's arm. "Never resort to violence...unless it is a life or death situation. Arthur, you just don't listen to other children if they are being rude."

"Okay" Arthur said, giving them a small smile.

"Right. Glad that's settled then." Alfred said, breathing a sigh of relief. "Ready to get into the bath Artie?"

"Do I have to? Can't I just take two baths tomorrow instead?" Arthur asked, a tad bit annoyed.

"Sorry to break it to you, but that wouldn't help anything. By the condition of your clothes, it looks like you played in the dirt today." Ivan said.

"Fine. Stupid bloody baths." Arthur muttered under his breath. Despite his distaste for having a bath, he still followed Alfred up the stairs.

**...^J^...**

**Double Date:**

"Now remember Arthur, be good for your Uncle Matthew. If he tells us you misbehaved then you wont have any television for three days." Ivan said as he finished unbuttoning Arthur's coat for him.

"Yeah Artie, be good for Uncle Mattie!" Alfred repeated Ivan's words.

"Don't worry guys, I'm sure everything will be fine." Matthew said, laying a hand on his nephew's head. "Just have a good time tonight."

"Oh don't you worry Mattie, we will!" Alfred told him. "Now remember that Artie's bedtime is nine since it's the weekend. Don't let him watch anything rated over PG unless it's Pirates of the Caribbean, and make sure he eats at least half of his dinner. Oh yeah, don't let him have any junk food after eight thirty...and if he has trouble sleeping then give him tea, or warm milk with a teaspoon of cinnamon. If he has a bad dream then let him sleep with you, and...and...I must be forgetting something."

"No my sweet, I think you have covered everything. Now let us leave for our date." Ivan said.

"One more thing! I put five books in is bag, so let him choose one and read it to him before bed...and don't let the Cuban get too close to him." Alfred added, slinging his arm through Ivan's. "We'll pick him up tomorrow morning."

"Alright" Matthew waved them off. "I promise Arthur will be taken good care of. See you tomorrow."

Ivan led Alfred back to the car, leaving Arthur in the care of Matthew and Juan. It had been awhile since they'd had anytime to themselves outside of the bedroom, so tonight was going to be just the two of them. They were going out to eat at a fancy restaurant and then going to see a midnight showing of some cheesy romance movie. Since they would get back around three, they were having Arthur spend the night at Matthew and Juan's house. Naturally Alfred was a bit paranoid.

"Mattie doesn't have much experience with kids. He works at a zoo, not a school. What if he treats Artie like some godforsaken animal? What if he locks him behind bars?"

"Sunflower, you really must calm down. We barely had any experience with children either before adopting Arthur. Besides, your brother is very responsible. Even more responsible than you, I believe." Ivan assured him.

"Hey, Mattie isn't more responsible then me!" Alfred protested. "I have a better paying job than him!"

"Then why does he have such a nice house, including an in ground pool?" Ivan wondered.

"I dunno...it must be from whatever job the Cuban has." Alfred responded.

"He does have a name you know." Ivan informed him lightly.

They spent the rest of the car ride bickering lightly about Matthew's friend, until finally they arrived. It was a five star restaurant, and they already had reservations. As soon as they went inside they were lead to one of the best tables, and a waiter asked what they wanted for drinks and an appetizer.

"Alfred, what are you doing? This is a very fancy place, you're being disrespectful." Ivan hissed. Alfred, who had his phone out and was texting furiously, smiled sheepishly back at Ivan.

"Sorry babe, I was just checking in with Mattie on how Artie's doing, but he's not replying!"

"Sunflower, you must loosen up and enjoy our night out. I am sure that everything is going fine. It is around eight thirty, so Matthew is most likely reading Arthur his story right now which explains why he isn't answering." Ivan said.

"You're right...I'm worrying too much, aren't I?" Alfred realized, chuckling to himself.

"You always worry, sweet one" Ivan told him with a grin. They both gazed into each others eyes for a moment before their love filled thoughts were interrupted by a loud German accent.

"Nein, Feliciano don't touch those!"

"But Luddie, look at how shiny they are!" Said a very Italian accented voice. Alfred looked at the table behind them, and his eyes brightened. There, sitting at a table, was no other than Ludwig Beilschmidt. Sitting across from him was a small slim man with brown eyes and a hair curl. There was a vase of roses on the table between them.

"Hey, Mr. Beilschmidt! Ludwig! Hows it going bro? Are you on a date too?" Alfred called out, raising his voice over the harp music playing. Ludwig flinched, turning around to see who was talking to him. After seeing that it was Alfred the German's face flushed a bright red.

"Oh...er...h-hello Mr. Jones. I am very well thank you, and this isn't a date! It is merely a get together!" He replied through stutters.

"But Luddie, you said this was going to be one of our most romantic dates!" The Italian man cried out. "Have you changed your mind?"

"Nein, Feli it's not...I mean...ugh!" Ludwig couldn't finish his sentence, all words leaving him. Meanwhile, Alfred and Ivan had been watching the whole thing, knowing grins on their faces.

"So you guys are a couple huh? That's awesome dude!" Alfred congratulated them.

"Well, we...um..." Ludwig tried to speak once again but failed. Luckily he was rescued by Feliciano.

"Of course we're a couple!" He said happily. "Luddie just asked me out last week. He just gets embarrassed."

"We are both very happy for you." Ivan said. "Alfred and I are on a romantic date as well. After that we're seeing that new movie...what was it called? Of yes, _The Love Triangle_."

"What a coincidence! We're going to see that movie too! The midnight showing to be exact!" Feliciano told them excitedly.

"Cool! We can totally make it a double date then!" Alfred mused to himself. "This will be awesome!"

Much to Ludwig's displeasure and embarrassment, Alfred and Ivan sat next to them during the movie. Instead of watching the movie, the Russian and American couple just pretty much made out the whole time. That got Feliciano into a kissing mood, and Ludwig had to awkwardly tell him to wait until after the movie was over. The movie also happened to have been terrible. No good plot, no good actors...as waste of money in Ludwig's opinion.

"Well that was fun!" Alfred commented after the movie ended, which was about two thirty in the morning. "Ivan and I better get back home. We still need time for our sweet beloved fun activities before we have to get Arthur in the morning."

Ludwig smiled awkwardly. "Er...of course. We'll be seeing you around I suppose?"

"Of course. Maybe we can do this again sometime." Ivan suggested.

"Ja, of course" Ludwig agreed, but on the inside he was screaming no. Alfred and Ivan both left cheerfully. Now it was time for the best part of the date. Sweet love making time! The couple sped off into the night and one does not need any details in order to understand that they had a very good rest of their date.

Nothing could intercept with Alfred and Ivan's love life.

...Well, except for Arthur whenever he had a nightmare or something. But Arthur was at Matthew's, so therefore it was just the two of them, madly in love.

**...^J^...**

**A Doctors Visit! (Which Arthur doesn't want to go to)  
**

"Artie listen to me, it's not going to be that bad!" Alfred tried to say reassuringly to the darkness under the master bed, which also happened to have been where Arthur was hiding under.

"Yes it is! They're going to give me a bloody shot!" Arthur cried.

"Only a little one! And you'll get ice cream afterwords, I swear." Alfred promised. Today Arthur was going to the doctor's for a physical. He also had to get some vaccinations. In the beginning Alfred just wasn't going to tell Arthur that he needed to get a shot, but the kid had already guessed what was going to happen, which was why he was hiding under Alfred and Ivan's bed, refusing to go.

"I don't care about ice cream! I will not let a stranger poke me with a needle!"

Alfred sighed. He really needed Ivan right now. Sadly though, it was a Tuesday which meant that Ivan was working until six. Arthur had just gotten picked up from school. The appointment was at three, and Alfred only had about ten minutes to get Arthur into the car thanks the all the time it was taking to get him out from under his hiding spot.

"You can sit in my lap while they give it to you. It wont even hurt that bad. Just one little pinch and then you wont have to worry about it for awhile.

"I don't want to worry about it period! I'm not going and you can't make me!" Arthur shouted once again. This left Alfred with only one solution. Thank goodness he was very strong.

"Alright Art, but don't say I didn't warn you." With that, Alfred used one hand and promptly grasped the mattress and box spring, lifting up practically the entire bed to reveal Arthur. The six year old screamed, rolling over to make a run towards the door. Unfortunately for Arthur, Alfred used his other hand to grab him by the back to the shirt.

Arthur did not come quietly. Alfred had to drag him out the the van kicking and screaming. The whole fifteen minute car ride involved Arthur kicking the back of Alfred's seat repeatedly while shouting that he was never going to talk to him again. Though it pained Alfred to be dragging his child to the doctors, he knew it was the only way. He didn't want his only child coming down with some life threatening disease just because they hadn't brought him to get a stupid vaccination! After this whole thing blew over he would make it up to Arthur somehow.

"Aw, look at that! They have a fish tank over there! Why don't you go take a look?" Alfred suggested cheerfully as he dragged Arthur into the waiting room. It was a pretty kid friendly place by the looks of it. The walls were a bright yellow, complete with rainbow patterns! There was a little aquarium in one corner of the room, along with a big bucket of toys and books. The rest of the place was taken up by couches and chairs.

Arthur glared up at his captor, before letting go of Alfred's hand stomping angrily towards the fish tank. Alfred had to laugh at that. Whenever Arthur was angry about any trivial thing, it was just too funny to take him seriously. He would scowl in the cutest way. It was hilariously adorable.

Alfred checked in at the front desk and was given some papers to sign. This was Arthur's first real physical in America, so naturally he would have to fill out paperwork. It still didn't make things any better though. Ivan was really the paperwork guy, not Alfred. He wandered over to a chair near the fish tank so he could keep a close eye on Arthur. He didn't want any escape attempts.

Much to Alfred's relief, Arthur seemed content with studying the different types of tropical fish swimming around for the time being. By the looks of it he was trying to count how many. Alfred smiled to himself and looked back down to the paperwork. Thankfully the room wasn't too crowded. A mother sat a few seats away with her two infant twins. Another mother was scolding her ten year old for breaking one of the toys. They were the only ones in the room besides Alfred and Arthur for the time being.

When a nurse came in and called Arthur's name, it seemed to make the kid remember why he was here in the first place. Before Arthur could bolt form the room, Alfred quickly grabbed his hand and followed the nurse into the next room over. The nurse was a woman with frizzy black hair and glasses. The nurse led them down a hallway into a room with a scale.

"Okay sweetie, take off your shoes and step onto the scale." She intrusted. Arthur grumbled at being called 'sweetie' but did as he was told. After that he had to stand by a measuring chart. The nurse made a humming noise as she checked the results.

"What? What's wrong with him?" Alfred asked in panic.

"Oh nothing, nothing" The nurse assured him. "He's just a little short for his age, that's all."

"Oh" Alfred breathed a sigh of relief. "Yeah, he is kinda short."

"Nothing to worry about though. Just make sure he has a proper diet and he'll shoot right up when he's older." The nurse told him cheerfully.

After that Arthur just had to go through the boring stuff. Alfred sat in a chair as he watched the nurse take Arthur's temperature and check his blood pressure. He could see Arthur eying the door every so often. He was probably plotting an escape attempt. He had to admit it though, Arthur was behaving pretty well. Or at least he was. When the nurse told him he had to pee in a cup things sort of went downhill.

"Ew, that's bloody disgusting! I'm not doing that." He told the nurse, nose scrunched up in distaste.

"But sweetie, I promise this is just to make sure you're healthy. The bathroom is the room right across from here." The nurse tried reassuring him.

"I don't want to." Arthur told her again. Alfred decided to intervene.

"If you do this then when we get ice cream you can have any size you want." He promised. That finally got Arthur to do what he was told, but the kid was still pretty disgusted by it. Luckily the nurse finished all of her things and was replaced by Dr. Jacobi, a man in his early forties with a beard and dark eyes. To Arthur he seemed nice enough, but still, doctors could not be trusted!

Everything seemed to go well though. Not once had the doctor mentioned a shot, so Arthur was beginning to believe that maybe he didn't have to have one. After his eyes, ears, heart, and throat were examined he was pretty much relaxed and reassured.

"Well Arthur, we're almost done. Now it's just time for a vaccination and then you're free to leave." The doctor said cheerfully. Arthur's eyes widened.

"No! Go away! I wont let you!" He screamed, jumping off the examination table and making a mad dash towards the door. Alfred, who had been sitting next to the door, was quick to catch him. The next few minutes consisted of a lot of chaos.

On the outside of the room it would appear by the sounds that a child was being murdered very brutally. In reality, inside the room Arthur was just being held down in Alfred's lap while both the adults tried getting him to calm down. Nothing seemed to work. Alfred had even offered to extend his bedtime for an hour that night. Alfred found out that Arthur could definitely hold his own in a fight. He could already feel some bruises forming on his arms from where Arthur had kicked him.

Eventually Alfred was able to hold him still long enough for the doctor to administer the shot. As soon as Arthur felt the pinch of the needle he broke out into a long shrill scream before bursting into tears.

"Thanks again Doc, sorry for all of this...I had no idea he would act this way." Alfred apologized as he carried a still sobbing Arthur out of the waiting room.

"Erm, no problem. We look forward to seeing Arthur at his next visit." The doctor said. His expression looked like he felt the exact opposite of what he had said. The shoulder of his lab coat was torn, and there were child sized footprints all over his pants and shirt. He was wide eyed as he watched the father and his kid leave the office.

Alfred began to feel really guilty. They had already reached the car and Arthur still hadn't stopped crying. He cried all the way on the way to the ice cream place, and he even cried when Alfred presented him with a triple scoop chocolate sundae. He cried, and cried, and cried.

Eventually Alfred started crying himself, calling Ivan on his cellphone and explaining everything while sobbing uncontrollably.

"I feel so horrible! What other choice did I have though? I didn't want him to get sick later on...I held him down for the doctor. Oh god what kind of a parent am I? I'm so horrible..." Alfred cried into the phone.

"Did you get him ice cream afterwords?" Ivan asked.

"Of course! He wouldn't even touch it! He just keeps c-crying and now I can't stop crying either! I d-don't know what to do!" Alfred told him. He was currently outside next the the car in the ice cream store parking lot, while Arthur was still crying inside the car.

"Why don't you stop by my work? Maybe Arthur will feel more comforted with the both of us around." Ivan suggested. "And do not fret sunflower, all children need their shots. We'll just have to come up with a better plan next time. Thank goodness his next physical isn't till next year."

Ivan's words had at least gotten Alfred to stop crying for the time being. He hopped back into the car and told Arthur excitedly that they were going to visit father at work. It still didn't cease the six year old's tears. They arrived **at Laggart Transcontinental Inc**. in a matter of minutes. Alfred knew the layout of the company building like that back of his head.

He carried Arthur into the main lobby, stopping by to greet once of the secretaries, Brenda. It was a little difficult making conversation while Arthur was still bawling loudly. The secretary looked at him in shock, but Alfred explained the whole doctor's situation to her.

Alfred walked up the large staircase and down the halls until they reached a big set of fancy red colored double doors. He used one hand to push open the doors and strode in as if he owned the place. Well, his husband the vice president pretty much owned the place, so that gave Alfred rights as well.

By now Arthur had quieted down a lot, in shock from such large and fancy surroundings. Instead of crying loudly he was just giving mild sobs as he was carried into his father's office. Ivan, who was sitting at a large dark wooden polished desk, smiled brightly at them.

Smiling back, Alfred crossed the room and sat Arthur on the big desk. Arthur crawled away from him across the desk and into Ivan's lap.

"I hear the doctors visit didn't go too well. It's alright, I know how scary shots can be." Ivan said to him soothingly, running a hand through Arthur's hair.

"T-they made me pee in a cup too." Arthur told him.

"Oh dear, that doesn't sound too fun." Ivan commented. There was silence for a moment. Alfred sat in a comfy chair on the other side of the desk while the Russian continued to stroke Arthur's hair.

"Father...do you really work here?" Arthur asked after awhile of silence. Ivan's face brightened.

"Da! I am the vice president of the company. That means I am very well known around the place. Do you like it?" Ivan asked him.

"Yeah" Arthur nodded. "It's really big."

"But the bigger the better, am I right? Now how about some refreshments. Toris!" Ivan called out. Almost instantly a slim man with shoulder length brown hair stepped into the room, a tray of crackers and cheese in his hands.

"Hey Toris! Wow, that was quick. How did you know we wanted snacks so quickly?" Alfred asked Ivan's office assistant in awe. Ivan beat the Lithuanian to a reply.

"I called Toris before you arrived and told him to prepare snacks." He explained.

"Oh, I see" Alfred said, before smiling widely. "Hey Toris, you haven't met Artie yet!"

"Ah, you are right. Ivan has told me a lot about hi though." Toris replied, before smiling at Arthur. "I work for your father along with my two brothers. We are all his assistants. It is a pleasure to meet you."

"It's a pleasure to meet you two" Arthur responded, extending out his little hand to shake. By the way he spoke he sounded much older than his six year old self. All the adults laughed fondly, and Toris shook Arthur's hand.

Alfred was glad that Arthur had stopped crying.

Thank god Arthur only needed a physical once a year.

**...^J^...  
**

**Park Bully:  
**

Arthur was in a good mood today. Since it was the weekend and he had gotten a perfect spelling score in school that week, as a treat his parents were taking him to the park. This wasn't just a stupid baby park. This park had big swings and tall slides, and it was a very large place.

"You can go play if you want, but stay in sight. We'll be sitting right here. Just don't talk to strangers." Ivan told Arthur once the family had arrived. Arthur scurried off towards the slides as Ivan and Alfred sat down on a bench. After playing around on the different sized slides for a little bit, the six year old decided to play on the swings, which weren't far from his father and daddy.

"Do you want me to push you?" Alfred called from his spot as he saw the child struggling to swing.

"No, I can do it myself." Arthur told him. For awhile he was content with swinging. Nobody else was on the wings for the time being. Eventually though, a kid who was about a head taller than Arthur made his way over. He was a little pudgy, and had his arms crossed as he observed Arthur for a moment.

"Get off, I want that swing." He suddenly spoke up. Arthur was stunned for a moment.

"But why? There are plenty of other swings." He told the boy, trying not to sound mean or anything.

"I want that one! Get your ass off of it." The boy ordered once again. Arthur's eyes widened. Nobody had ever sworn at him before. It didn't make sense though. This swing was exactly like all the other empty ones. Was the kid just trying to be mean? If so, he was doing a darn good job at it.  
Well Arthur wasn't just somebody who allowed himself to be pushed around, so he glared back at the boy.

"No. I was here first." He said, gripping onto the swing handles tightly.

"So? Now get off before I make you!" The boy shouted.

"No!" Arthur repeated, louder this time. By now Alfred and Ivan had heard the commotion, and were watching the argument cautiously. Ivan wanted to tell the annoying boy off, but surprisingly this time Alfred was the one who stopped him, wanting to see if Arthur could resolve the issue himself.

"You're going to pay now!" The boy said. Without another warning, he grasped onto Arthur's arm and tried to force him from the swing.

...There went Alfred's calmness.

"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH MY KID!" The American screamed, running over to the scene. The chubby kid looked scared at the fact that an adult had actually intervened. He took off before Alfred could say anything else, running to the other side of the playground. Alfred turned his attention to Arthur, checking him for any bruises or cuts. Ivan had walked over too, glaring in the direction of where the kid had run off to.

"Never again shall we go to this park! Not when such vile children play here as well." The Russian said angrily.

"It's fine, he was just a git" Arthur tried to assure them. "Besides, he's gone now anyway."

"We're still leaving" Alfred told him curtly. "We can go out to eat for dinner. It is five thirty after all."

"Sounds like a good plan. Come on, let's go." Ivan replied, taking Arthur's hand and leading them back to the car. Arthur didn't complain since eating out was always fun. Well, only if it wasn't McDonald's. Besides, even if he could have held his own against the kid, it was still nice to be protected every once in awhile.

**a/n: Tell me what you think, please!**

**I promise to update sometime next week, as soon as my relatives go back to Nebraska!**


	5. Seven years old

_Arthur's age: 7_

_Alfred's age: 21_

_Ivan's age: 22**  
**_

**Seven Years Old:**

Today was a very important _extremely_ special day. On this very day, April 23rd, Arthur would be turning seven years old. Obviously to Ivan and Alfred, this was a huge occasion. They were throwing a party at the house for their son. All of Arthur's little friends would be coming for the afternoon, and Uncle Mattie and Juan would come over as well. Alfred had picked up a huge chocolate cake with fancy blue icing, while Ivan had gone to the store and purchased many decorations and party items.

Arthur himself was staring at the cake that sat on the counter with awe. The party wasn't until a few hours, and Ivan had made it clear that the cake was not to be touched. After staring at the food with a bit of longing, he sighed and turned to go to the living room. Right as he walked in, he was lifted into the air.

"My Artie is seven years old! Seven!" Alfred cried out in joy, hugging Arthur to his chest. The now seven year old wiggled out of the grip, landing back on his feet.

"Does this mean I can stay up later?" He asked.

"Sure thing pal! Your bedtime can be extended by ten minutes!" Alfred answered happily, ruffling Arthur's hair.

"Only ten minutes?" Arthur asked in disbelief.

"Hey, at least it's something." Alfred told him with a wink. Before anything else, they heard Ivan curse from a few feet away.

"Babe what's wrong?" Alfred wondered.

"Its's this stupid party banner. I can't get it to stay up." Ivan complained, trying desperately to get a banner that read, _Happy Birthday Arthur_ to stay up on the wall.

"Here, let me help with that," Alfred said, reaching up to hold the banner against the wall so Ivan could pin it up securely. Now pretty much everything was ready for the party. Pretty soon the doorbell rang, and everyone started arriving. Having a birthday party was still sort of new for Arthur since he'd never celebrated his birthday when he'd lived with his mum and brothers. At first he stayed very close by to Ivan or Alfred, until he was comfortable enough to play with his friends.

When it was time to sing Happy Birthday and cut the cake, Alfred surprisingly started to cry.

"What is wrong, my sweet love?" Ivan asked him, laying a large hand on Alfred's cheek.

"H-he's growing up so fast!" The American wailed. "Pretty soon he'll be all grown up and off to college, and then we'll never see him!"

"...Sunflower, he's only seven. That wont be happening for a long time." Ivan informed him gently, patting Alfred on the shoulder.

"You're right," Alfred said with a sniffle, using a hand to wipe at his eyes. "It's probably just all the excitement getting to me or some shit. I'll be fine babe, just cut the cake so I can have some. Cake fixes everything. Give Artie the first piece though, since he's the birthday boy. It wouldn't be fair if you didn't. Oh, and make sure to give him a big scoop of ice cream too."

Ivan rolled his eyes at Alfred's rambling and proceeded to cut the cake. He gave Arthur a large piece, along with a generous amount of ice cream. Then after serving all of Arthur's friends, he gave Alfred a piece.

"This is a really great party Al," Matthew, who had been standing a little awkwardly in the background said. "Arthur looks like he's really enjoying it."

Alfred looked over at Arthur, who was having a competition with Gilbert over how much cake they could fit into their mouths, and smiled.

"You're right Mattie! He's just having a blast. Just wait till we all play pin the tail on Ivan!"

"What?" Ivan looked up from his job of getting everyone food.

"Just kidding babe...we can do that tonight," Alfred said with a wink.

"Ugh, Alfred don't talk like that here! The kitchen is filled with children," Matthew scolded him.

"You're just jealous because I have the best lover in the world!" Alfred sang tauntingly. The Canadian sighed to himself in exasperation, shaking his head.

At least Arthur was oblivious to all of Ivan and Alfred's sexual talk.

**...^J^...**

**Anniversary:  
**

For once, Alfred was able to wake up without his alarm going off, or from Arthur coming into the room in the like he usually did every morning. When he opened his eyes, sunlight was streaming through the window. He glanced at the clock and was pleased to see that it was nine. He was barely ever able to sleep in this much, because of taking care of Arthur and work. That was why weekends were so nice. Alfred's thoughts were diminished as he heard slight snoring coming from the right. Looking over, Alfred smiled. It looks like he wasn't the only one who had slept in today.

Ivan was beside him, still fast asleep. Alfred wasn't about to wake him up anytime soon. His hardworking Russian husband barely ever got to sleep so late. Normally even on weekends Ivan awoke before seven. For a moment, Alfred just watched Ivan as he slept. His lover looked so peaceful like this. Then again, Ivan deserved to sleep in today. You see, this wasn't just any old Saturday. Today was May 17th, the day that he and Ivan had married. It was their anniversary.

It was hard to believe that he and Ivan had been married for almost three years. They were both still pretty young. Alfred was only twenty one, and Ivan was just a year older than him. It was almost insane that the two adults could not even be close to thirty but still have very nice jobs and money, and even have a kid. Still, that just made it all the better. Alfred finally decided to get up and make sure that Arthur wasn't doing something life threatening. After all, it was pretty unusual for Arthur not to wake them up, and the house was far too quiet. Alfred threw on a shirt and made his way downstairs.

When he got downstairs, Alfred was thankful to see that Arthur hadn't done anything. The kid was just sitting on the floor in front of the television watching some cartoon while eating lucky charm cereal out of the box dry.

"Hey kiddo, what's up?" Alfred asked, sitting next to Arthur on the floor.

"The ceiling," Arthur responded, his attention more on the TV rather than his dad. Alfred briefly look at Arthur in confusion before understanding his sarcasm. For a seven year old the kid sure was a smart alec.

"Do you know what today is?" Alfred asked him, trying to contain his excitement.

"Saturday?" Arthur answered.

"Wrong!" Alfred snapped playfully. "...Well technically right, but I'm talking about something that takes place on this Saturday."

"I don't know. Is it somebody's birthday?" Arthur asked, finally bringing his attention away form the screen.

"Nope. Today is me and your father's anniversary!" Alfred announced, practically squealing from excitement. He honestly had been looking forward to this day for awhile. Later he and Ivan would go out to eat a nice expensive dinner, and then they would come home and make love till dawn. Matthew was coming over to watch Arthur while they went on their date later that night.

"Anniversary? Like when you guys got married or something?" Arthur asked.

"Mhm" Alfred nodded. "And what a great day that was! Well, until Ivan's sister crashed the wedding reception. It was still pretty awesome though!"

"It certainly was," Ivan said from the doorway. Alfred's blue eyes brightened considerably upon seeing his husband.

"Ivan!" He yelled, running over to pull Ivan into very passionate kiss.

"Happy anniversary, my sweet," Ivan said as he broke the kiss, running his hands down Alfred's back until they settled just above his rear. Alfred wrapped his hands around Ivan's neck, burying his face into the crook of Ivan's neck.

"I love you," Alfred whispered, drawing Ivan into another deep kiss. Thankfully Arthur wasn't affected by their kissing, and was back to watching cartoons once again.

"Let's go have a morning round...please Ivie?" Alfred pleaded quietly, already getting into the mood.

"I don't know. What about Arthur?" Ivan asked, a little unsure. His American husband took care of that though.

"Artie, me and your father have to do some very important work upstairs 'kay? Only come in if there's an emergency, but knock first!" Alfred said.

"Okay," Arthur replied with a nod, taking another fistful of cereal. Alfred smirked triumphantly at Ivan before taking his hand and tugging him back towards the stairs. Ivan allowed himself to grin.

This was going to be a great anniversary.

**...^J^...**

**The Forbidden Word:  
**

It was a normal Thursday evening. Ivan had just gotten home from work. He was cooking dinner tonight to give Alfred a break from it. So now the American was doing some of Arthur's laundry. Surprisingly doing the seven year old's laundry was actually quite difficult. He didn't know what Arthur did at recess each day, but it sure must have been brutal. His jeans were always grass stained and ripped, and his shirts were wrinkled and muddy. It was scary to turn out the pants of the pants and checking for things before putting them into the wash. More than once Alfred or Ivan would find melted candy or other nasty food in there. Kids sure didn't know anything about hygiene nowadays.

As Alfred walked down the hall with a basket full of Arthur's dirty clothes, he could hear voices coming from Arthur's room. He seemed to be talking to Gilbert over the phone.

"...Really? Did they put him in the slammer?" Arthur could be heard speaking into the phone. Alfred chuckled to himself, continuing his journey to the laundry room. Until he heard Arthur say something. Something that shocked him greatly.

"Ha, serves that bloody fucking frog right! He shouldn't have tried stealing the candy in the first place!" Arthur said to Gilbert.

The basket of laundry fell to the floor as Alfred's eyes widened in horror. His seven year old had just said the ultimate swear. The f-bomb! How did he even find out about that word? It was forbidden for children to use. It took less than a second for Alfred to barge into the room. He grabbed the house phone from Arthur's hand, acting on an impulse as he threw it out the window, which was thankfully open.

"Hey, what did you do that for daddy?" Arthur asked, a little miffed at why his dad looked so upset. Maybe he had accidentally dropped his burger on the floor again or something?

"Arthur Kirkland Jones-Braginski, you get downstairs and park your little butt on the couch _this instant_ young man! We're having a talk!"

"Why? What did I do?" Arthur asked in a panic, completely unaware that it was his language that had made Alfred mad. His question was unanswered as Alfred picked him up, quickly carrying him downstairs.

_Five minutes later:_

"So why did you call a family meeting again? I was in the process of making Solyanka for dinner, and I don't want it ruined." Ivan stated impatiently. Alfred had stormed into the kitchen with Arthur in his arms, demanding an emergency 'family crisis meeting'. Needless to say, now Arthur was sitting on the couch in between Ivan and Alfred.

"Ivan, do you know what heard Artie say earlier?" Alfred asked, voice surprisingly calm.

"Er...no. What did he say?"

Alfred leaned over and whispered something into his husband's ear. Ivan's eyes comically widened

"HE SAID WHAT?" The Russian roared so loudly that the neighbors could probably even hear.

"You heard me." Alfred told him. Ivan looked down at Arthur in disbelief.

"Arthur, you have just lost television for the week." He informed him. "You do not ever use the F-word, not ever."

"Gilbert taught it to me! He said that's what big kids say!" Arthur claimed, eyes wide.

"That explains it..." Ivan and Alfred said at the same time. The next ten minutes consisted of giving Arthur the 'Swearing is evil' lecture'. Finally they were convinced that Arthur understood his wrongdoings, and therefore he now only couldn't watch television for three days instead of a week. Ivan was able to finish dinner, and the three of them ate the Russian meal to their heart's content.

**...^J^...**

**Happy Christmas:  
**

After months and months of waiting, it was finally here; Christmas! Alfred and Ivan had spent weeks decorating. Outside the house was decked out in lights and the yard was full of electronic reindeer and homemade snowmen. Inside was even better, with mistletoe hanging everywhere (Alfred's doings) and a large Christmas tree in the living room that looked absolutely perfect. Alfred and Ivan took Christmas very seriously. It was been fun when it had just been the two of them, but with Arthur Christmas was even more thrilling.

"Now remember Artie, you always put out double stuffed Oreo's for Santa. Those are his favorites, and it means that he'll give you even more presents," Alfred informed Arthur that Christmas eve as they all prepared to go to bed. It was nice that on Christmas eve Arthur was actually willing to go to bed straight away. That gave Alfred and Ivan even more time for their holiday lovemaking.

"Right, Oreo's it is," Arthur said, cramming his hands into the Oreo box and taking out as many as he could get, setting them up on a large glass plate. He set the plate on a small end table by the tree, right next to a cup of hazelnut coffee (Because Alfred said that Santa loved coffee even better than milk).

"Make sure to put out some carrots for the reindeer too," Ivan reminded him. Arthur took nine large carrots from the fridge, one for each of the reindeer, and put them next to the plate.

"Well, that's everything. Ready for bed now?" Alfred asked him. Arthur nodded, obediently taking Alfred's hand and following him upstairs so he could hear a story before going to sleep. Ivan took one last look around the living room with a satisfied grin before turning to go up to his and Alfred's bedroom. Alfred read Arthur two stories instead on one, since it was Christmas eve and all. Eventually Arthur fell asleep, and Alfred practically ran to go join Ivan in the bedroom.

_The next morning:_

"MATTIE! MERRY CHRISTMAS!" Alfred practically yelled in excitement as he opened the door for his brother to come in. It was always tradition that Matthew would come over in the morning, along with his friend Juan. Normally having Matthew's friend over would kill Alfred's mood, but since it was Christmas he wouldn't allow it to bother him.

"We brought presents," Matthew said, indicating to a large bag that Juan was carrying.

"Yeah, here you go man," Juan said, handing the bag to Alfred. The American beamed, indicating for them to come into the living room.

Arthur and Ivan were already in there. It was still pretty early, and Arthur was only about halfway through his presents. So far he had gotten every single thing he'd asked for (Except for a real pirate ship) so he was very content. Matthew and Juan settled themselves onto the couch while Alfred gave Arthur all the presents the Matthew had brought for him. Christmas carols played in the background from the radio, and Alfred snuggled up to Ivan on the couch. As he watched Arthur rip open presents excitedly. After a few minutes he suddenly stopped, reaching all the way behind the Christmas tree. Much to Alfred and Ivan's surprise, Arthur pulled out two little prettily wrapped presents.

"I almost forgot, but these are for you!" Arthur said excitedly, passing Ivan and Alfred each one of the gifts.

"Artie...you didn't have to get us anything," Alfred said, a bit taken aback.

"Well I did, so you have to open them. I made them special at school," Arthur replied. Alfred looked at Ivan, who shrugged so they both began to open them. Alfred's gift was a small ornament with the Superman symbol on it. Ivan's gift was an ornament as well, but it was shaped as a beautiful sunflower. Both parents were speechless. Finally Ivan picked Arthur up and settled him on both their laps.

"What a very sweet thing for you to do. No wonder Santa brought you so many presents," Ivan said, ruffling Arthur's hair.

"It's because you guys are the best parents ever," Arthur told them, blushing a bit. Alfred kissed Arthur on the forehead and tried not to let his emotional side get to him.

They really had adopted the perfect child.

**...^J^...**

**Murderer:  
**

"Holy shit! IVAN! IVAN!" The Russian man was interrupted from ironing his work clothes by the blood curdling scream of his husband. He immediately set down the iron and ran down the stairs as fast as he could to see what the problem was. The last time Alfred had screamed like that it had been because he'd accidentally sliced himself while chopping onions.

"What is it Sunflower? Are you hurt?" Ivan asked frantically, running into the living room which was where the scream had came from. Thankfully when he saw his lover, he was thankful that there wasn't any blood. Instead Alfred was staring at the television with a look of pure horror.

"Watch the news right now!" Alfred ordered him sternly. Ivan sighed to himself, taking a seat next to Alfred. This probably wasn't an emergency at all. They were probably installing a new McDonald's close by or some other stupid thing like that. However, as Ivan listened to the news he was shocked.

_"...Just earlier this morning a man escaped from New York's most top guarded prison. His name is Joe Buckins, and was convicted to life imprisonment for murdering over several children brutally. We ask of you to keep your doors locked tonight, and if you see this man then call 911 immediately. The police are already looking everywhere for this insane_ _prisoner_..." A female reporter was saying. On the screen popped up a picture of a large man with a scraggly white beard, and a scar under his right eye. Ivan felt the blood run from his veins.

"He's a child murderer Ivan, A CHILD MURDERER!" Alfred screamed frantically. "And he's loose in our freaking state! The prison isn't even that far from here! It's only twenty minutes away. What if he comes for Artie? My baby Artie might get murdered!"

"Calm down Sunflower," Ivan ordered to a now sobbing Alfred. He couldn't help but feel quite panicked himself though. "Where is Arthur right now?"

"He's playing outside," Alfred answered almost straight away. Then his eyes widened. "Oh my god, he's playing outside! No!"

With that, Alfred got up and ran out the back door while Ivan waited patiently. A few seconds later he returned with an annoyed Arthur in his arms. He sat on the couch, still holding him.

"I was playing!" Arthur snapped, feeling quite peeved.

"You're not going outside until they catch Joe Buckins," Ivan stated firmly. Arthur looked confused.

"Who's Joe Buckins?"

"Nobody important Artie," Alfred answered quickly, not wanting to scare the kid. "But until he is caught, you're not leaving our sight!"

Alfred and Ivan stuck to their oath. All day they didn't leave the house, and when Gilbert called to invite Arthur over to his older brother's house they declined. The couple also had Arthur sleep with them since they feared that the murderer would break in and steal Arthur. Their son was not pleased, especially since he had really wanted to go play at Mr. Beilschmidt's house with Gilbert. Alfred and Ivan assured him that this was for the best though.

The whole night was very tense. Neither parent got a wink of sleep. Ivan kept his shotgun close by, and Alfred kept a baseball bat next to the bed. In between them was Arthur, who was the only one who actually got any sleep. Every time there was even the slightest creak in the quiet house, both adults would startle. Ivan would grab his gun and Alfred would grab the the still sleeping Arthur.

When morning arrived, Arthur was the only one who was fully awake. Ivan and Alfred sat on the sofa drinking coffee while watching the news. What came out of the news reporter's mouth shocked them greatly.

_"...It seems that a mistake was made. There was in fact, no escape from the prison. We apologize for any panic that this mistake may have caused people. Joe Buckins is still in prison, locked behind bars just like before._" The reporter said. Ivan and Alfred both spat out their coffee at the same time.

"What the hell? How could someone possibly make a mistake like that?" Alfred asked in outrage.

"Apparently the idiot policemen in this state!" Ivan said with a growl. "I guess we panicked for nothing."

"Does this mean I can go to Gilbert's today?" Arthur asked aloud.

**...^J^...**

**Man of the house Part 2:**

"Seriously Ivan, I'm telling the truth!" Alfred said in irritation from his spot on the couch.

"Nyet, you are very incorrect," Ivan replied.

"No way dude! I'm much more manlier than you!" The American responded.

"Alfred dearest, must we always argue over this? Why can't you just accept that I am the man of the house?" Ivan asked him in amusement. Alfred folded his arms and glared as hard as he could at the Russian.

"Remember what Artie said last time? I'm the man of the house!" Alfred told him in triumph.

"That was several months ago, plus he was half asleep. We need to ask him again," Ivan said.

"Fine, whatever," Alfred said. "He's just going to choose me again though."

"We'll see about that...ARTHUR!" Ivan called out.

"Yes father?" Arthur asked innocently, standing at the top of the staircase.

"Who do you think acts more like a man, me or father?" Alfred asked him.

"Father," Arthur answered almost instantly. "Can I go back to my room now? I'm trying to read."

"W-what?" Alfred spluttered. "No Artie, I'm the strongest! That's what you said last time, remember?"

"Nope," Arthur answered, "I don't remember."

Arthur turned and walked back to his room, leaving Alfred in shock and Ivan laughing.

"Score one for Ivan, score one for Alfred. Looks like we're tied." Ivan told him smugly.

"For now," Alfred replied coolly, turning on his heel and walking towards the kitchen, leaving Ivan to stand there in the living room. He blinked. Oh well, it was obvious that Ivan would forever be more manlier.

**a/n: Sorry this took so long. I was really busy with my family from Nebraska and I barely had time to type while they were here. I hope this chapter was okay. I have decided that each chapter from now on will be a year of Arthur's age. Like for instance, in the next chapter he will be eight, and then nine, and so on.**

**Review and tell me what you think please!**

**ps: If you have any ideas or things you want to have happen, just leave them in a review or pm me!**

**Also, I'm working on my other stories too, I swear!  
**


	6. Eight years old

_Arthur's age: 8_

_Alfred's age: 22_

_Ivan's age: 23_

**...^J^...**_  
_

**An evening with Ivan:**

"IVAN?"

"Yes, sunflower?"

"Have you seen my wallet anywhere?"

"No darling, I haven't."

Alfred frowned at his husband's answer. He had been hoping that Ivan would know his wallet's whereabouts. All morning he had been looking for it, but it wasn't on the counter like where it usually was.

"Are you sure? Cause it's not where I usually leave it..." Alfred tried asking Ivan again. Seriously, he had to leave for work in ten minutes, and he sort of needed his license to drive. Well, he could probably get away with it for one day, but if he got pulled over or something then he'd be dead.

"Darling, I don't know. Try asking Arthur." Ivan replied from the closet, where he was getting his toolbox. He was going to be fixing the door to their closet, since it squeaked whenever it opened and the noise drove the Russian man crazy.

"Artie, do you know where my wallet is?" Alfred called upstairs, where Arthur was hopefully doing his homework.

"Yeah, it's under the bathroom sink next to the mouth wash!" Arthur answered almost instantly. Alfred raised his eyebrows...why the hell would his wallet be there? Plus, why would Arthur know that it was there? Oh well, he didn't have time for interrogations or else he would be late for work. He ran upstairs to get his wallet, and then went to Arthur's room to say goodbye.

"See you later kiddo. Be good for your father okay? I'm working late tonight so he'll be putting you to bed." Alfred said, kissing his son on top of his head.

"Okay daddy, have fun making greasy burgers." Arthur replied.

"I will!" Alfred said cheerfully, heading back downstairs, where he ran into Ivan on the stairway.

"Have fun at work, my sweet one. I will see you later tonight," Ivan said, kissing the American on the cheek.

"Bye babe. Have fun with Artie tonight, and don't forget to read him his story!" Alfred responded, and then made his way out the door. Ivan sighed before heading on upstairs to fix the closet door. This evening it would just be him and Arthur, since Alfred wouldn't be back till around ten.

It was rare having Arthur all to himself, since normally Alfred was always home during the evenings. Ivan was going to make it a lot of fun. He was planning on taking Arthur out to eat at any restaurant he wanted, and then they would go see a movie or something. They could stay out later since it was a Friday night, and there wouldn't be school tomorrow.

Arthur really hadn't liked third grade at first. He had been separated from all of his friends in a different classroom. Heck, even Francis had been put in a different class! Now he was just starting to make new friends, and new enemies as well. However, to make up not being in the same class, Arthur and Gilbert caused a lot of trouble together during recess. They had gotten several phone calls for incidents that the boys had caused.

"Arthur, where do you want to go out to eat?" Ivan asked once he had finished fixing the door.

"Umm...Friendly's!" Arthur chose after a moment of thinking. Alright, this was okay. Ivan could deal with Friendly's. It was a good kid 'friendly' restaurant, hence the name, and a bonus was that it wasn't too expensive. It was a shame that Alfred was working, since it happened to have been one of his favorite places to eat as well.

"Alright then, get your jacket."

Thirty minutes later, Ivan was served Caesar Salad with a side cup of clam chowder, while Arthur decided to be different and try a Cheese Quesadilla instead of his normal order of chicken fingers. While they both ate, Ivan found that spending quality time with his son was very enjoyable. He learned a lot of new things. For instance, apparently today in school Arthur had gotten all of his spelling words correct, Gilbert had found a frog at recess and put it in some girl's lunchbox, and they were learning about the rainforest. It was nice to learn so many little details about his son's life.

After dinner, they went to the movies and saw this new children's movie that involved pirates and unicorns, two of Arthur's favorite things. They got back home around nine thirty, which was past Arthur's bedtime, but they decided to keep it a secret. After Arthur brushed his teeth and got dressed for bed, Ivan read him his nightly story before tucking him in. Arthur had just fallen asleep by the time Alfred arrived home.

"Hey babe! I missed you so much! Don't worry, they promised not to have me work that late again." Alfred said as he greeted Ivan, who was sitting in the living room watching the late night news. "So how was you and Arthur's night? Did you guys have fun?"

"Da, we had much fun. Arthur wanted to go to Friendly's, and then we saw a movie." Ivan responded, using the remote to turn off the TV so they could both head on up to the bedroom.

"What? Dude, you guys went to Friendly's without me? No fair!" Alfred whined on the way upstairs. Before following Ivan to their room, Alfred stopped to peek into Arthur's room and give him a goodnight kiss. When he returned to their own room where Ivan was waiting on the bed, the American lept on top of him, roughly kissing his husband.

"Tomorrow, all three of us are going to Friendly's, and I'm gonna have myself a Super Tuna Melt!" Alfred growled. "Now make love to me!"

Ivan sighed to himself, but gave in to his lover's needs.

The three of them made such a great family.

**...^J^...**

**Sick:**

Ah, October. The month of pumpkins, colorful leaves, and monsters. It also happened to be the month where the weather began turning cold, and people were more prone to sickness, and children were especially vulnerable. When Arthur woke up on just a normal boring Tuesday, he didn't at all feel like his regular self. His nose felt stuffy, he felt cold and sleepy, and his throat really hurt whenever he swallowed.

Oddly enough, Arthur had never really gotten sick before. Maybe he had developed a small cough before or something, but never had he felt this sick. He wanted to call out to his daddy and father, but they were both probably downstairs and his throat hurt too much to shout. He didn't feel like getting out of bed to go find them, since he was too tired. Sniffling miserably, he curled back up and attempted to go back to sleep.

Meanwhile, Alfred began to grow a tad bit worried. It was seven twenty, and usually Arthur was already up. His breakfast (Toast and an orange) was starting to grow cold. Finally when it turned to seven thirty, only thirty minutes before the bus would come, Alfred finally raced upstairs as fast as he could to make sure that his only kid wasn't dying.

When he opened the door, Alfred got a really big shock. His kid actually _was_ dying! The little boy was pale, his breathing was more labored, and ha had a red and runny nose. For a moment Alfred just stared in horror, before screaming.

"Oh my god! Artie! No, my baby!" He cried, rushing over to the eight year old's side. Arthur peered up at him and frowned.

"Please don't yell daddy, I'm okay. My throat just really hurts, and I cant breathe out of my nose." Arthur told him softly, trying not to strain his throat. Alfred, on the verge of hyperventilating, tried to calm himself down enough to decide what to do.

"Alright Artie buddy, it's okay. Everything's going to be fine. Um...lemme think." He said as reassuringly as he could. Should he take Arthur to the hospital? Call the pediatrician? Get medicine or something? What could he do to help his baby? He couldn't just let him suffer like this! Then, it came to him. Ivan would know what to do! The Russian had only just left for work, so Alfred quickly dialed his cell number.

"Yes, what is it Alfred?" Ivan answered his phone after only two rings.

"ARTHUR'S DYING!" Alfred shouted into the phone, on the verge of tears.

"What!?" Ivan asked in panic.

"Well, he's sick with a sore throat and stuff! You have to come home!" Alfred explained. Ivan wanted to smack his husband for scaring him like that. He thought that Arthur was seriously injured or something. Still, if his little boy was sick then he would come home right away.

"Sunflower, I doubt he's dying. It's probably a cold because of the recent chilly weather. I'll be home in a few minutes, but first I'll stop at the store to pick up medicine and other things to help him." Ivan said, instantly making an illegal U-turn.

"Okay, thanks Ivie!" Alfred said. "Hurry home!"

While waiting for Ivan to arrive home, Alfred tried to make Arthur as comfortable as possible. He moved him into their own bedroom since he and Ivan's bed had thicker covers. After tucking him back in, Alfred then went to retrieve several other blankets, wrapping them around the child.

Ivan arrived home ten minutes later, hands filled with bags of supplies. He had gotten several different types of children's cough and cold medicine, all different flavors since he didn't know what flavor Arthur would like. He also had bought ginger-ale, tissues, chicken noodle soup, and a brand new thermometer since the old one was broken. Alfred had snatched the thermometer right away to check Arthur's temperature while Ivan prepared some medicine.

"Oh god...IVAN, he has a fever of 101!" Alfred yelled in panic.

"I'll go get a cool washcloth!" Ivan shouted back to him. Fevers always got the Russian worried, ever since his childhood when his sister had gotten a very bad fever. Now he always panicked, even if the fever was only small. Now with both of his parents in panic mode, Arthur could only lay there helplessly while both of the adult figures acted as if he had some terminal disease.

The day went by slowly for Arthur. Alfred and Ivan both stayed home from work, sitting by his bedside while watching his every move. If Arthur so much as sneezed, they hovered over him with tissues and cough drops, asking him what hurt, and how they could help. Arthur also wasn't allowed from bed at all. When he needed to go to the bathroom Alfred snatched him up and carried him before another word could be said.

Luckily for Arthur though, Ivan had carried the big Tv upstairs, and he was allowed to watch whatever he wanted on it, except for inappropriate things of course. He also got to eat chicken noodle soup and crackers, along with ginger-ale all while being in bed! Alfred was going to be the one to feed him, but luckily Arthur convinced him that he could hold a spoon by himself. The only part that sucked was taking the medicine. No matter what flavor, it still didn't taste good. He was finally convinced to take it though, after Alfred said that he could skip his bath tonight if he took the medicine.

Finally his fever broke, and Alfred and Ivan were convinced that Arthur wouldn't keel over and die anytime soon. He was allowed to move back into his own bedroom that night, where Ivan set up a dehumidifier to help with his congestion, and they set up a tiny monitor so they could hear him at night and make sure he was okay, or that his cough didn't get worse.

As he lay in bed, Arthur began to wonder if everyone's parents were this overprotective, or if it was just his parents.

**...^J^...**

**Fight:**

The day had started out normally. It was a Wednesday, so Arthur went to school like usual, Ivan went to **Laggart Transcontinental Inc**, and Alfred spent the day working at McDonald's. So yes, the day had started out pretty normal. It was around evening time when things sort of went downhill. Alfred was working on dinner (Shepherd's Pie) while Arthur sat in the living room watching some cartoon. Ivan arrived home, opening the door and setting his briefcase down. The first thing that caught his eye was Arthur.

"Have you finished your homework yet?" Ivan asked the eight year old, who was watching the television intently.

"Um...not yet. It's halfway done." Arthur answered.

"I suggest you do do it," Ivan told him.

"Alright," Arthur said, clicking off the Tv and heading over to his backpack. Alfred however, had heard the conversation and walked over to the kitchen doorway.

"Ivan, I promised Arthur that he could finish his show and then do his homework after dinner." Alfred said lightly, but there was the slightest hint of annoyance in his tone.

"You know what our rules are Alfred, homework first, fun later." Ivan replied.

"But dude, you're making me look like a jerk in front of Artie since I promised him." Alfred said, folding his arms.

"It's okay daddy, it was pretty much over anyway. I don't mind." Arthur spoke up.

"See, then it's settled!" Ivan said. "Let us not make a big issue out of it."

There was a brief silence before Alfred smiled warmly. "You're right babe. Now hurry up and go get changed, I made Shepherd's pie!"

So just like that, the atmosphere was back to normal. A few minutes later they all sat down and had a nice pleasant dinner. The Shepherd's Pie tasted wonderful, which put everyone in a good mood. Only for a little while though. After dinner Arthur was excused from the table, after putting his dishes in the sink. Soon after, Ivan and Alfred finished as well. About ten minutes after they were done, Alfred spoke.

"Ivan, you didn't put away the salt like I asked you to!" He whined, pointing to the saltshaker on the table.

"Darling, you never asked me to put it away in the first place." Ivan replied.

"Oh. Well, could you put it away now?" Alfred asked him.

"...Sunflower, why can't you put it away? You are standing right next to the table." Ivan pointed out. "I am all the way across the room."

"Well, I kinda just asked you too..." Alfred trailed off. There was an awkward silence.

"That just doesn't make sense. You are standing right next to it. There is no need to be lazy." Ivan said, folding his arms and giving his husband 'the stare'.

"Don't you dare call me lazy!" Alfred snapped. "Now stop being an ass-wipe and go put the salt away!"

"Oh, so now you're being immature and swearing? Put the salt away yourself." Ivan said, turning to go into the living room. He had already had a stressful day at work, so he wasn't going to take this.

"Hey, don't turn your back on me! Put the damn salt away!" Alfred yelled.

"PUT IT AWAY YOURSELF!" Ivan roared loudly.

"Stop yelling so loudly in the house! You're setting a bad example for Arthur!"

"I'm setting a bad example for him?" Ivan scoffed. "You set bad examples for him daily!"

Alfred gasped dramatically. "I do not! I'm the more responsible parent here. For your information, I care about Artie a lot more than you do, so don't bring him into this!"

"You are the one who brought him into this discussion! And no, you do not care about him more than I do!" Ivan snapped.

"Oh yeah? Then why do you make him do his homework all the time?" Alfred questioned mockingly. "That isn't being caring at all, it's being mean!"

Ivan rolled his eyes.

"Really Alfred? Making Arthur do his homework means that I _do_ care about him a lot. Stop being so stupid."

"Why don't you stop being stupid?" Alfred shot back. "I don't want your stupidness rubbing off on Arthur."

"Stop bringing Arthur into this!" Ivan ordered. "You probably don't even love him as much as I do. After all, you pointed out to that red haired kid at the adoption agency. It was all me who wanted to adopt Arthur!"

"What the fuck? Dude, I didn't even like that red haired kid, he was just kinda cute! Besides, I'm the one who wanted to adopt a kid in the first place!" Alfred responded, face red with anger.

"Well...you're still stupid!" Ivan said.

"So are you!" Alfred replied.

"Fine then!"

"Fine!"

With that, Ivan stormed off towards the doorway, grabbing his jacket and car keys. He opened the door, slamming it behind him. The only sound that could be heard was the car speeding away angrily. Alfred stared out the window, mouth open in shock. He then heard a small shuffling noise, and looked to see Arthur standing at the top of the stairs, eyes wide and frightened. Not really thinking, Alfred opened his mouth to shout.

"What the hell are _you_ staring at? Get your little butt to bed right now mister!" He snapped, anger still fresh in his mind. Arthur turned around and ran to his bedroom, shutting the door hard behind him. Alfred sighed in frustration, plopping down on the couch and burying his face into his hands. He stayed like that for awhile, until finally his anger subsided. By now it was pretty late, and he was starting to feel guilty for snapping at Arthur, and nervous since he had no clue where Ivan was.

He picked up the house phone and called Ivan's cell, but nobody answered. After calling three more times, he finally gave up and instead tried to call Matthew. His brother couldn't talk though, since apparently he was doing something important with Juan. Finally he decided there was nothing else to do but go to bed.

It took twenty minutes for Alfred to realize that it was impossible to sleep in such a big bed all alone. Ivan had yet to call or come home, and the American was feeling very sad and lonely. Needing to seek comfort, he got out of bed and headed towards Arthur's room.

"Hey buddy...you awake?" Alfred asked softly, entering the eight year old's room. Toys were scattered on the floor, and a night light lit up the place.

"Go away," Arthur muttered from his place in bed.

"Er...I'm sorry for yelling earlier. I was just mad." Alfred apologized. "Do you wanna come sleep in my room tonight? We can keep each other company."

"No. Go away." Arthur replied sleepily, turning over to face away from his dad.

"But Artie, I really don't want to sleep in there alone. How about I camp out on your floor? Is that alright?" Alfred asked.

"No," Arthur answered quickly.

"O-okay..." Alfred answered dejectedly, slowly leaving the room and going back to his own. He laid on his bed and cried, unable to stop the tears. He and Ivan barely ever fought like that. Usually it was just teasing, or joking. It never got serious like that. Alfred was drawn away from his thoughts when the door creaked open.

"I-Ivan?" Alfred asked hopefully though his tears.

"No...Arthur." His son quietly respond. "I'm sorry for making you go earlier. Can I sleep with you please daddy?"

"Oh," Alfred replied, trying not to let the disappointment show since it wasn't Ivan. He quickly pushed the thought aside. After all, now he wasn't alone anymore. He had his little boy to keep him company. "Of course buddy! Come on up!" he said, drawing back the covers for the blonde British child. Arthur climbed in and snuggled up to his parent's side. It was quiet for a few moments.

"Arthur, I really am sorry for yelling. I was just really mad." Alfred whispered.

"It's okay. Um, when will father come home?" Arthur asked.

"Er, I'm not really sure. He'll be back soon though, don't you worry." Alfred told him, secretly hoping himself that his words were the truth.

"I can't help it. You and father were really mad at each other. Do you hate him?"

"What? Of course I don't hate him! People just fight sometimes, even if they love each other. Everything will be okay. For now though, let's get to sleep. You have school tomorrow." Alfred said, snuggling them both deeper into the covers. The two of them both drifted into light and troubled sleep. About half an hour later, Alfred woke up to a familiar voice.

"It seems that my spot has been taken." Ivan said as he observed the eight year old who was sound asleep and right where Ivan's spot was.

"I-Ivan? Your home?" Alfred asked in disbelief. He wasn't dreaming, was he?

"Da, of course. I just went to Starbucks and got some coffee. I brought pastries home for tomorrow's breakfast, and...I'm sorry for earlier." Ivan whispered, leaning over Arthur so he could kiss Alfred, who was still shocked. Then when the shock finally evaporated, Alfred sat up and wrapped his arms tightly around the Russian.

"I'm the one who should be sorry. I acted horrible...and to top it off I cant even remember what we were fighting about." Alfred said, burrowing his head into the crook of Ivan's neck.

"Something about pepper maybe? I'm not sure, I can't remember either." Ivan said. "Now, I think we should move Arthur over into the middle so I can have some room to lie down as well."

"Okay," Alfred said, moving over a bit as Ivan gently scooted Arthur over and climbed in to bed himself.

"We'll have makeup sex tomorrow night, when Arthur is in his own room." Ivan whispered after a few seconds.

"Awesome. I can't wait for it!" Alfred whispered back excitedly. "Goodnight babe."

"Goodnight my precious sunflower."

The next morning when Arthur awoke early, he was pleasantly surprised to find both of his parents in bed instead of only one, and they both reached across him and were holding hands. Arthur grinned to himself and wondered if he had just dreamed their whole fight last night.

He snuggled against both of them and went back to sleep.

**a/n: ****Oh hey, what do you guys think about Arthur having to get his tonsils out, or his appendix out or something? Then Ivan and Alfred would freak! Tell me if that sounds like a good idea for the next chappie!**  


** By the way, sorry this took forever! Life has just been very busy! I hope this was okay. A couple of people suggested that Arthur should get sick so I thought that one was great, and then my brother suggested Ivan and Alfred having a big fight and then making up afterwords. Plus I also decided to have Arthur and Ivan spend time together since I seem to always type more Alfred and Arthur moments.**

**Thank you so much to _Nancy_, _KezaBabez_, and _Five Pies To The Face_, for suggesting things. I will use most, if not all, of your ideas somewhere in the story :)**


	7. A Nine Year old

_(For those of you who wanted his tonsils out, please forgive meee! More people requested appendix though, so I went with that instead. I hope it isn't too bad, I'm not the best at knowing all of the medical terms and stuff...lol!)_**  
**

**The major appendix crisis:**

It was around four in the morning. Alfred and Ivan were both sound asleep in their bedroom, exhausted from a long hard day of work. It was now Tuesday, so they would have to once again get up early, so Ivan could go to work, and Alfred could get Arthur ready for the bus. In only a few hours they would have to wake up. So that was why the couple were both getting all the sleep while they could.

Arthur however, was not sleeping. About an hour ago his stomach had really starting to hurt. The pain centered around his belly button, and was growing worse with every passing minute. At first he thought it was just a growing pain or something and would pass, but now he was getting scared. Every time he moved it was even worse, causing the pain to become sharp and brutal.

Earlier he hadn't been feeling that well either. He had only eaten a bit of his dinner, hiding the rest of his pork chops in his napkin, since the thought of food had made his belly feel squeamish. Now along with the pain, he was beginning to feel that funny feeling in his belly that said he had to throw up. He really wanted his parents right now.

"D-daddy? Father?" He called out through tears. He waited a few moments, but there was no reply, and nobody came in. His stomach hurt so bad! What was wrong with him? What is he really was going to die this time? Finally coming down to his last option, Arthur decided that he somehow needed to make it to his parent's room.

When he stood the pain got worse, causing him to wobble and fall onto his hands and knees. Slowly and painfully, he crawled out of his room and to the hallway. About halfway down the hall, he stopped to throw up. The feeling was awful, and there was nobody to rub his back soothingly or to whisper to him. When he got to his parent's door, his trembling hand grasped the doorknob and he pushed it open, sobbing louder as he pain increased. The nine year old's sobbing had awoken both of the parents.

"Arthur? A-Artie what's wrong?" Alfred asked in panic, being the first to arrive to his child's side. Ivan was right behind him.

"It hurts! Please make it stop hurting! P-please!" Arthur cried, clutching at his belly. Ivan and Alfred stared at each other in fear, panic, and alarm.

"Your belly hurts? What kind of hurt? What part of it?" Ivan asked as calmly as possible, but his voice was trembling. Arthur pointed towards just below his belly button.

"Oh my god...Ivan what do we do!?" Alfred asked, wrapping his arms around Arthur and pulling him into his lap.

"We're going to the emergency room. I'm not sure what it is, but it does not seem good. Hurry to the car, I'll get his jacket." Ivan instructed. Alfred nodded, his eyes wide and fearful. This was bad. Really bad. As he carried Arthur into the hall, he saw the puddle of vomit on the floor and gasped.

"Please daddy please...make it stop!" Arthur begged through whimpers.

"Shh...it's okay buddy, we're going to make it all better." Alfred said soothingly, even though he had no clue what the hell was wrong with his baby. His mind was starting to get overwhelmed with panic. He could not lose his little boy, absolutely not!

Thankfully they only lived a few minutes away from the hospital. Alfred sat in the back with Arthur, while Ivan sped down the streets. Luckily since it was now almost five in the morning, the roads really weren't crowded. They made it to the emergency room and quickly carried Arthur inside.

"SAVE MY BABY! HE'S DYING!" Alfred screamed dramatically as they entered through the automatic doors. The room was pretty much empty save the the woman sitting at the front desk, who jumped up from her desk in alarm.

"He is having very bad stomach pains." Ivan clarified. The woman nodded, using an intercom to call down some doctors. Since they were the only ones there, someone came straight away to take them to an examining room. It took about five minutes of feeling around Arthur's stomach and asking about the symptoms for the doctor to figure out what was wrong.

"Mr. and Mr. Jones-Braginski, your son has appendicitis. His appendix is pretty inflamed, and he needs an appendectomy, otherwise known as surgical removal of the appendix." The doctor, Dr. Zimmer, explained.

"W-what? Surgery?" Alfred asked, gulping as the color drained from his face. His mind became clouded with images of his precious little boy strapped down to a table, screaming while people with masks surrounded him with scalpels and knives.

"I know it may sound bad, but this is a very common procedure. It isn't too risky at all." Dr. Zimmer said comfortingly. "He'll be asleep the whole time."

"Isn't there medicine or something? Is surgery the only way?" Ivan asked. He wasn't exactly too thrilled with the idea of their son getting his stomach cut open.

"I'm afraid this is the only way. With your consent, I'd like to get him prepping for surgery right away. He has time, but if the operation isn't done soon then his appendix could burst, and that can be fatal."

The last word of the doctor's sentence caused both parents to gasp. Fatal!?

"A-alright, you have our consent." Ivan told him. The doctor nodded and had some nurses take Arthur onto a gurney and push him into a room where he would get ready for the surgery. The doctor told them that they could stay with Arthur until he was given anesthesia, but they couldn't be present during the actual operation.

Alfred was now in tears, clinging onto Ivan and crying. Why did something like this have to happen when everything had been so perfect? What if the surgery went wrong and Arthur died? What if they removed the wrong body part, like his liver or something?

"It's alright my sunflower...he will be okay." Ivan said, hoping inside that his words were true. The followed Arthur into a room, where he was changed into a children's hospital gown and set up in a bed. The operation would be in about twenty minutes. Alfred felt his stomach clench at the sight of Arthur laying in a hospital bed.

"I don't want to be cut open," Arthur informed them with a pout, gazing around the room with mild interest, a hand still rested on his stomach. Those seven little words made Alfred burst into tears again.

"Ivan, there had to be something else other than this!" He said, grasping onto his husband's sleeve. Both of the adults had dressed quickly. Ivan wore jeans and a t-shirt, while Alfred had on sweat pants and the shirt that he had slept in.

"Alfred, be calm. We must not show panic in front of Arthur. We have to make him feel safe." Ivan whispered, before turning to rub Arthur's head. "You'll be alright, little one. I promise you wont feel anything while they do it. When it's all over you wont ever have to have this happen again."

A few minutes later, they were given some paperwork to fill out, and asked questions about Arthur's past health and other information. Ivan mostly did the talking, while Alfred sat and comforted Arthur, rubbing gentle circles around Arthur's belly. Finally a doctor came in with a small cup of liquid medicine for Arthur to take called versed, which would calm him down and make him feel relaxed for the surgery. The closer to the surgery Arthur got, the more and more Alfred and Ivan became freaked.

"I can't let them do this to Artie...they'll probably kill him! Maybe we can smuggle him back home!" Alfred suggested as he watched a few more doctors come in and get ready to give Arthur anesthesia.

"We have to let them Alfred," Ivan said, his own heart racing as well. "We'll make it up to Arthur after his surgery. He can have all the toys and games he wants."

Finally it was time for Arthur to be put to sleep. Before they did though, Alfred and Ivan both showered him with hugs and kisses, promising to be there when he woke up. Finally Arthur was rolled into a different room, and Alfred and Ivan were directed to a waiting room. The couple sat down in some chairs, holding hands. By now it was six am, and the hospital was growing a little more lively. Alfred kept eying the hall that Arthur had been taken down every few seconds.

It took approximately ten minutes until Alfred had a freak out. But hey, that was actually pretty good considering how protective he was as a parent. Anyways, the American suddenly leapt up from his chair.

"NO! They can't cut him open! The hero will now allow it! Artie! ARTIE!" He screamed, making a run towards the operation room. Ivan, along with several other doctors, had to stop him from going any further. He was dragged back kicking and screaming to his seat.

"Alfred calm down! I'm scared too, but we have to be calm about this." Ivan said, pressing a kiss to his husband's lips. He took Alfred's hands in his own, rubbing them reassuringly. Slowly Alfred began to calm down, and they sent in a kind nurse named Emily to talk with them.

"You honestly have nothing to worry about Mr. Jones-Braginski. I have a son who is around eleven, and he had this exact same operation. He'll be absolutely fine. He'll be done in about a half hour or so, it really doesn't take too long. There are plenty of way to keep yourself busy until then. Why don't you go to the gift shop and pick out a present for your son?" The nurse suggested. Alfred wiped his eyes, looking at Ivan.

"That's actually a good idea. Come on babe, let's go buy him a bunch of stuff!" Alfred said, quickly dragging Ivan towards the direction of the hospital gift shop, which luckily had just opened. Ivan said a quick thank you to the nurse before following him.

They bought Arthur...a lot of things. Flowers, stuffed animals, get well cards, and plenty of other toys. The gift shop clerk looked really happy to have so much business. Finally after setting all the things in the hospital room which Arthur would be staying in after his surgery, they went back to await the end of the operation. Finally, after such a long wait, they were called to meet up with Arthur in the PACU (Post-Anesthesia Care Unit).

"Everything went well. He'll be kept in the hospital for about two days, and then you're free to take him home." The doctor told him cheerfully. "He's waking up now. Don't be alarmed if he's a little groggy or confused, it's just the anesthesia."

"Thanks for not killing Artie doc, you're the best!" Alfred said, hugging the doctor tightly.

"Um...no problem," The doctor replied, a little freaked out. Ivan then shook his hand, and they practically ran to the section where Arthur was. When they got there, Arthur was just beginning to stir. He blearily opened his eyes, and was greeted by the sight of his parents staring down at him.

"Artie? Baby are you okay?"

"How are you feeling Arthur?"

Arthur just blinked in confusion, looking around as if he didn't hear them. A nurse, who had been in the room the whole time, began checking his blood pressure and heart rate. Arthur still just looked around in confusion, and then stared at the iv in his hand.

"When is my surgery?" He finally spoke with a yawn.

"It's all over buddy!" Alfred told him, rubbing his arm.

"Oh..." Arthur said, and then rested his head back further into the pillows, blinking again.

"Arthur? Are you tired?" Ivan asked. Much to their surprise, Arthur's green eyes filled with tears and he nodded.

"What's wrong Artie? Does it hurt? Oh my god what if something went wrong! Nurse, what's wrong with him!?" Alfred asked, going back into panic mode.

"He's fine sir," The nurse told him. "We can move him to his regular hospital room now. He'll be a little more normal in a few hours after the affects of the anesthesia wear off."

The nurse's words were true. Arthur was moved into his own hospital room in which he would be staying for about two days. It was actually a pretty nice room for a kid, with little bunnies on the walls, and a tv hooked up to the wall. After taking an hour nap, Arthur was much more coherent. He sat up more in bed, frowning as he held tightly to a large stuffed bear (One of the gifts that had been purchased form the gift shop).

Alfred had calmed down more as well. He sat in a chair next to Arthur's bed, watching him closely to make sure that he wasn't in any pain. He was using his cell phone to text Matthew, who was going to come by later with Juan and visit. Ivan had driven home to get a few of Arthur's things, like his clothes and stuff.

"When can I go home?" Arthur asked. "I don't want to spend the night here."

"Don't worry Artie, I promise I'll get you out of here asap. Me and father are staying the night with you though, so you wont be all alone." Alfred promised.

The next two days were both good and bad. Ivan and Alfred showered Arthur with gifts. Every time Arthur so much as flinched or looked like he was in pain, Alfred would freak out and flag down a nurse. Matthew and Juan came and visited, bringing Arthur his very own handheld Nintendo device, complete with over ten games. It helped a lot with the nine year old's boredom.

"Mattie, why are you wearing sunglasses while inside?" Alfred asked curiously as he observed his brother.

"Heheh, no reason." Matthew muttered nervously. The American jut shrugged it off, turning his attention back to Arthur. Juan looked sort of weird. His eyes were glazed over and he was staring into space while munching on a bag of Cheetos. Nobody really noticed since all the attention was on Arthur. Eventually the doctor came in to check on him and update them on Arthur's status.

"Well Mr. and Mr. Jones-Braginski, Arthur is recovering splendidly. He can be discharged from the hospital tomorrow morning if all goes well tonight. You'll have to keep him home for at least a week. After that if he's feeling well then he can go back to school. No strenuous activities for awhile though. I wouldn't recommend gym class or other sports for at least three or so weeks." The doctor said as he finished checking Arthur's heart rate. "I have a pamphlet containing instructions on how to care for him when he goes home."

"Okay, thanks dude." Alfred said, taking the pamphlet from the doctor, instantly reading it intently. Ivan leaned over his shoulder to peer at it as well.

"No problem," The doctor said, preparing to leave the room. He stopped however, peering into Juan's face closely. "Excuse me sir, are you on any type of medication right now?"

"What, me?" Juan asked, eyes wide. "No man, not really."

"That's what I thought," The doctor muttered, glaring at him. "Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave this hospital right now. Your friend can escort you."

"What?" Alfred spoke up, perplexed. That was when he studied Juan closer. "Dude, are you high? What the fuck!?"

Needless to say, Matthew was quick to jump up and leave the hospital with his Cuban friend. Alfred was fuming and wanted to go show Juan a piece of his mind, but Ivan convinced him to leave it for later, motioning to Arthur's confused expression. Alfred sighed, but stayed seated. It would not be until much later when he would deal with Matthew and Juan.

The next day, Arthur was excited to finally be home. He was brought out of the hospital in a wheelchair, which was very weird, and then driven home by his parents. Alfred sat once again with him in the back. When he was home, despite Arthur being able to walk Alfred carried him upstairs to his bed. There were many balloons and stuffed animals in the room, and plus his whole class had made him get well cards.

Arthur didn't have much of an appetite at first, but the doctor had said that this would be normal. He was just urged to drink lots of fluids.

Ivan and Alfred treated him like a king, literally. One of them would be with him constantly during the day, and at night they would take turns checking on him every half hour. Arthur was alright, but all of the attention could be annoying sometimes. It was cool reading all of the get well cards though. Gilbert Beilschmidt had been allowed to visit for a few minutes, bringing Arthur some classwork. His older brother Ludwig had also come along, wishing Arthur good luck with recovering.

When it came time for Arthur to return to school, Alfred really didn't want him to go. If the American could have it his way, he'd have kept the kid home for at least four months instead of a week. Ivan was a bit wary as well, but Arthur convinced him that he was feeling perfectly fine, so finally they agreed, but he couldn't run around a lot at recess or participate in gym class.

Things returned to normal, but very slowly. It took at least two months for Ivan and Alfred not to treat Arthur as if he would break at the simplest touch.

Arthur was just glad that he would never need this operation again.

**...^J^...**

**The Belting...sort of:**

_(There is a reference to this scene from chapter 5 in the original Alternate_ Universe _:p_ _KezaBabez requested I do a scene from it, so I thought that would be cool.)_

Ivan was already having enough of a stressful day at **Laggart Transcontinental Inc**. He had been late for a meeting, there was extra paperwork to be signed, and Toris had accidentally spilled coffee all over the floor, as well as his new shirt. It had taken Ivan several minutes to assure the Lithuanian that he was not in trouble, and now he was scribbling away on all the new paperwork. The worst part was that it was barely even noon yet.

"Er...Mr. Ivan sir? Your husband's on the phone." Toris said, shakily handing his boss a phone. Ivan nodded to him in thanks, and briefly wondered to himself why Alfred was calling him. Eh, it was the American's day off so he was probably just bored and wanted to chat.

"Alfred, I'm a little busy right now. Can this wait until I get home?" He said as soon as he brought the phone to his ear.

"Um...babe, I have something important to tell you," Alfred replied. Ivan felt his heart freeze at his husband's tone. It was serious, and a little...nervous? Had something happened? Had Arthur gotten hurt at school or something?

"What happened?" He asked, bracing himself for the horrible news that their son was gravely ill or injured, or had been kidnapped and forced to be a slave for foreign people or something.

"Artie kinda pulled the fire alarm at school. The principle wants us to come down immediately." Alfred explained. His words caught Ivan off guard big time. Arthur had pulled the school fire alarm? What? Arthur didn't do things like that, he was an angel...right?

"What do you mean? By accident or something?"

"Not exactly," Alfred answered, sounding as if he were about to start crying. "I guess it was a dare or some shit like that. But babe, they're waiting for us down at the school. I guess it caused a lot of panic, and I think we're gonna be fined or something. I don't know what to do."

"Alright, be calm sunflower. I'll be home in a few minutes, and then we will drive to the school and sort this whole thing out." Ivan said reassuringly.

Needless to say, Ivan's day had just gotten a lot worse. He'd thankfully been allowed to leave work since his situation was considered a family crisis. After driving home, he'd picked up Alfred and now they were heading towards the elementary school. The ride was silent and nerve wrecking. When they made it to the school, there were firetrucks and police cars still surrounding the place. Both parent's felt the color fading from their faces.

When they got to the principle's office, they saw Arthur sitting down in a chair talking to a policewoman, tears running down his face. Alfred was about to rush over and comfort him, but was stopped by the principle, a balding man named Mr. Jerl, who had just recently taken the job as principal this year.

"I hope you two understand the serious of this matter. That little brat should be expelled!" He hissed. Ivan felt the blood in his veins boil.

"He is only nine years old, and it was a dare, was it not? That is no reason to be expelled. Is the child who dared him to being dealt with as well?"

"Oh yes, he's being dealt with. Gilbert Beilschmidt's grandfather and brother are furious. However, we are not discussing him. We are discussing_ your_ son." Mr. Jerl said, folding his arms.

"Aha, so it was Gilbert's fault! That means Artie is innocent!" Alfred exclaimed with a whoop.

"Nyet darling, it was still his choice whether or not to pull it. Now, let's discuss the consequences." Ivan said, nodding to the principle.

In the end, they only had to pay a couple hundred dollar fine. The police and firefighters had talked to Arthur and explained how serious it was, and then they were free to go home. Alfred had carried Arthur back to the car, but none of the family spoke to each other. Arthur cried quietly in the backseat, realizing the seriousness of what he had done. When they all got home, everybody stood in the living room, unsure of what to do.

"Arthur, you are going to be punished. Go upstairs and wait for me," Ivan said sternly. Arthur ran up to his room quickly, leaving Alfred and Ivan facing each other in the living room.

"Um...so how are we gonna do this? No tv for a week?" Alfred spoke up, not really sure what to do. Arthur had never done anything like this before. He was a good boy, not a criminal or anything.

"Nyet, that is too light. He did a very serious thing. Alfred, he have to be strong and punish him." Ivan said gravely. "What he needs is the Russian belt."

"W-what?" Alfred asked, eyes widening considerably and he began rambling. "Oh no. No, no, no, no no. Ivan babe, we are not going to hurt Artie! That is just out of the question...nope, never in a million years will we ever do that to him. Besides, that's child abuse! We are good parents Ivie, not evil child abusers!"

"Alfred, it is not child abuse! I was belted all the time when I was a child, even for something as simple as not wanting to eat my carrots at dinner." Ivan informed him.

"Dude, you grew up in Russia._ Fucking communist territory!_" Alfred exclaimed with emphasis.

"We are not communist anymore! And Alfred, three little smacks with my measly small belt will not make him a messed up child. It will make him remember not to pull trouble like this again." Ivan insisted.

"Measly? Ivan, you're a very big man dude, and your belt is huge!" Alfred shouted. "You cant do this to our little baby. He wont be bad again!"

"Alfred, I promise I wont do it hard. It wont leave any marks, and he'll be just fine. I can tell you right now that Gilbert is probably getting it a lot worse off than Arthur. After this we'll take away television for two weeks."

"But...but..." Alfred stammered, tears welling in his eyes.

"It will be fine sunflower. Just wait here until we finish." Ivan said, walking up the stairs before Alfred could say anything more.

"Fine..but...reduce the tv part to only five days, not two weeks!" He finally shouted, hoping to god that Arthur wouldn't hate them forever. There was silence, and he dragged his feet over to sit down on the couch. He braced himself for the wild sound of thrashing and screaming, but all his ears got were silence. As each second ticked by, Alfred grew more and more anxious. Finally he couldn't take it anymore.

"NO! IVAN, DON'T DO IT! YOU CANT DO THIS TO HIM!" He screamed, running full speed up the stairs and into their son's room. He burst the door open, but an interesting sight greeted his eyes. Arthur was sitting perfectly fine, hands folded in his lap as he looked at Ivan with big eyes. Ivan himself was sitting on the bed with his face in his hands, the belt discarded on the floor.

"Um...what the hell happened?" Alfred asked, confused.

"I'm not really sure. Father only used the belt once really gently and then he just threw it on the ground and started crying." Arthur answered, shrugging his shoulders.

"I...I couldn't do it." Ivan said, staring into his hands. "I've gone too soft..."

Alfred smiled widely, pleased with the way things had gone. He sat next to his lover and rubbed his back comfortingly.

"Don't worry babe, everything's fine. We can just come up with something a little more...easier."

It was decided that Arthur was to stand in a corner for thirty minutes, and he wouldn't have any television for one week. Arthur was fine with anything, and complied with his punishment. After all, he was feeling pretty guilty about causing so much stress on the school and his parents.

So that had been the end of Ivan's stressful day. It would just suck when he would have double the amount of work tomorrow from leaving early. That was also the day in which Alfred and Ivan realized that together, Arthur and Gilbert would be the cause of the end of the world someday.

...Well not _literally_...

...maybe...

**...^J^...**

**The Return of Joe Buckins!:  
**

When Alfred returned from his evening shift as McDonald's, he got a very good scare. Just across the street there was a man who looked very familiar. He had a scraggly white beard, and a scar under his right eye, and was dressed in a orange prisoner suit. There were chains around his feet and hands, and the man held a long pokey stick and a trash bag, seemingly picking up litter. Two cops stood by watching him. He knew that man from somewhere...but where?

Suddenly it came to him, and the American gasped loudly, screaming and running into the house.

"Ivan, IVAN! Joe Buckins is across the street! The child murderer! He's gonna kill us!" He screamed. Yes, the man was most certainly Joe Buckins. A couple of years ago there had been a news report saying that he had escaped, but apparently it had been a mistake.

"Joe Buckins? The child murderer?" Ivan asked, walking out of the bathroom.

"Take a look for yourself!" Alfred said, ushering towards the front window. Ivan peered out and cursed loudly, opening up the door and storming over across the street. Not knowing what else to do, Alfred followed him. Ivan went straight over to the cops.

"What is the meaning of this? Isn't this man a murderer?" Ivan snapped angrily to the police.

"Um...yeah," One of the officers who had been eating a doughnut answered. "What's it to you?"

"What's it to me!? Ivan roared. "I'll tell you what it is! This is a very safe neighborhood with lots of children! Why the hell would you make him clean up litter here of all places? Why not the side of a busy highway or something?"

"Look sir, Mr. Buckins needs to do his community service. There's no need to fear, we've got him under lock and key. Isn't that right Joe Buckins?" The second cop said.

"Yesh sir...Joe Buckins wont harm nobody," The prisoner replied, giving Ivan and Alfred a toothy smile. Alfred yelped and hid behind his husband. Ivan just turned to the police officers and scowled.

"I will not stand for having a child murderer doing community service directly across from our home. Get him out of here right now!" He demanded.

"No can do, mister. He had to stay here for at least ten more ours. He'll be gone by tonight." The first cop said.

"Fine," Ivan grumbled, grabbing Alfred by the sleeve. "Come along sunflower, we're spending the night at your brother's house. Go pack Arthur a bag, and we'll go pick him up from school early.

Not much more needed to be said. Ivan and Alfred dragged Arthur over to Uncle Mattie's for the night, and they stayed there until the murderer was well out of the town, not telling their confused son the reason why. The next morning they returned back home, and everything was back to normal.

For now.

**...^J^...**

**Alfred's Promotion:**

"Oh my god! Everyone, get into the living room now! I have awesome news!" Alfred shouted, bursting through the front door. Both members of his family were already in the living room though. Ivan was reading the paper, and Arthur was watching some comedy show.

"What is it sunflower?" Ivan asked, eyes still on his newspaper.

"I got promoted! You guys are looking at the new manager of McDonald's!" Alfred told them proudly, puffing out his chest as if he were a king or something.

"Hmm? A promotion? Good job, my sweet one!" Ivan praised him. "Somehow I am not surprised."

"I know, right?" Alfred laughed. "Apparently they thought that having me just be a regular worker was putting good talent to waste, since I already know everything about McDonald's. All the food prices and shit..yup, just about everything. So now we have even more money to add to Artie's college account!"

"Excellent. This calls for a celebration." Ivan said, closing his paper.

"Can we have cake?" Arthur asked.

"Sure thing buddy, come on let's go get one from the bakery right now!" Alfred said, heading towards the door. Arthur followed him excitedly.

"You guys go get a cake, and I'll start on dinner. How does Shepherd's Pie sound?" Ivan suggested.

"Awesome!" Alfred answered. "Okay, we'll be back soon."

"And the cake will be chocolate!" Arthur added.

...And so the evening started off with Shepherd's Pie and chocolate cake, and ended with Ivan and Alfred's celebration fun time after Arthur went to bed.

XD

**I have awesome news guys! One of my friends on Deviantart is doing some Alternate Universe fanart! Apparently she liked the story and asked if she could make some pictures for me! I'm so excited because nobody has ever done this before for my stories. When she's finished I'll put the link on my profile so you guys can see!(:**

**Anyway, thanks so much to everyone who Reviewed, Favorited, Alerted, or gave ideas! I was excited to see so many reviews for the last chapter(: I love you guys!  
**

**Btw, do any of you guys have some ideas on things that should happen to Alfred or Ivan? I only now just realized that I'm making everything happen to Arthur since that's the funnest, lol. But yeah... lemme know!  
**


	8. Ten Years old!

**Hey guys! I'm really sorry this took so long! I have three excuses. School, school, and what was the last one? Oh right..school! We just started like, two weeks ago and I've been busy getting back into the old grind. Anyway, I'll be updating a lot more now that I actually made a solid schedule for typing fanfiction. Sorry for that terribly long period of no updates. I'm back into the fanfiction world now! Anyway, enjoy!**_  
_

_Arthur: 10  
_

_Ivan: 25  
_

_Alfred: 24_**  
**

**The Newest Edition:**

It was a dull rainy Wednesday. Those type of day were never fun. Wednesday was right in the middle of the week, so you couldn't be excited for the weekend yet or anything, which made it all the more dull. Ivan himself tried not to let this get his spirits down. He'd just gotten finished with work, and for a treat he was picking up Mexican takeout for him and Alfred. Arthur wasn't a fan of spicy foods, so he would also be picking him up some pizza.

He arrived at the small Mexican food place, parking his car alongside the street curb not too far from the building. On his way to the front door however, he heard something. It sounded like a small cry...or was it a meow? His eyes shifted over to a small alleyway nearby, where the noise had come from. Was there a cat over there? The large Russian man took a tentative step towards the alleyway, hearing the audible sound of thunder from the distance as the rain continued to pour down.

Just as he had suspected, huddled under a few garbage cans was a tiny furry creature that was obviously a feline. It was all black except for it's belly. The thing was really quite tiny, just barely out of the stages of a kitten. Ivan's first thought was to instantly scoop up the little thing and wrap it in his jacket to shield it form the rain. However, he tried to resist the urge.

'No Ivan, do not let your emotions get the better of you...' His mind told himself sternly. After all, the cat could be diseased, or sick, or have fleas, or god only knows what else. He couldn't bring something like that into his home, with risk of Arthur or Alfred getting sick. The kitten opened it's tiny pink mouth and meowed pitifully.

Then again...

Ivan quickly looked around before snatching up the kitten and tucking it into the folds of his warm fleece jacket. He would bring it home only for tonight, and then first thing tomorrow morning before work he would bring it to an animal shelter. Sitting the cat in the passengers seat, Ivan then drove home, completely forgetting about picking up dinner.

When he got home, Ivan then began to wonder how his family would react. Hopefully they would be alright with having the cat stay just for the night. After all, Ivan didn't want to keep it permanently anyway. Pets were expensive (though they did have plenty of money) and hard to look after. They would have to clean it's litter box, remember to feed and brush it...a lot of responsibilities.

"Hey babe, did you get dinner?" Alfred asked when he entered the house. Ivan didn't respond for a moment, slowly taking the cat out of his jacket. The American's eyes then widened. "Dude, no! We are not eating a cat for dinner! That's like, illegal or something! Where's the Mexican?"

"We are not going to be eating the cat, sunflower." Ivan replied, setting the creature on the floor. "I found him in an alleyway. It was raining...and I figured that we could keep him here for the night, then I'll take him to a shelter tomorrow."

"Oh" Alfred blinked. "Thank god were not eating it. Dude, are you sure it doesn't have rabies or anything? I don't want Arthur exposed to something like that."

"Well he isn't foaming from the mouth..." Ivan responded quietly. There was a short moment's silence.

"So...what are we gonna do about dinner?" Alfred asked.

"I'll boil some hotdogs" Ivan answered. Before either of the adults could move, they heard someone thumping down the stairs.

"Father, you're home! Guess what happened at school today? Romano Vargas accidentally ate a...hey, what's that?" The ten year old stopped mid sentence as his eyes caught sight of the cat, who was currently sitting on top of Ivan's shoes, licking itself.

"I found this little one abandoned in the rain. He will be staying here for the night." Ivan told him. Arthur stared at the cat for a moment before a huge smile lit up his face.

"That's bloody brilliant! I've always wanted a pet kitty!" He said. "Come on Jazzy, I'll show you to your new bedroom."

"Woah now, wait a moment" Ivan spoke up before Arthur could take the cat away. "This will not be permanent Arthur. He will only be here tonight, and it's the shelter tomorrow morning."

"And where did you get the name Jazzy?" Alfred added.

"You can't take him away! They'll put him in a cage and starve him...he'll be eaten by the other cats!" Arthur exclaimed in horror, clutching the cat tightly to his chest. "And I named him Jazzy just because!"

"They will not starve him, nor will he be eaten. I will not negotiate this with you Arthur. Having a pet takes a lot of work, and we are all busy. You have school, and me and daddy have work." Ivan told him firmly.

"Cats don't need a lot of care dude. All they do is sleep and poop." Alfred spoke up, holding his hands up in surrender when Ivan glared sharply at him.

"See, daddy's right! And I will take care of him! He can sleep on my bed, and I'll share my meals with him, and then I'll clean up all of his crap!"

"Arthur, using the work crap is rude. And no, do not think that begging like this will get me to say yes. For now just go get him settled in your room. I'm going to make dinner." Ivan said with a sigh.

"Fine. Come on Jazzy, I'll show you my room!" Arthur said, carrying 'Jazzy' to his bedroom.

"I hope you know that we're keeping him. Artie wont let you take him away." Alfred told his husband with a grin. Ivan sighed once again, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"...I know, I'm growing too soft. Now come help me get dinner on the table."

That was the day when Jazzy came into the family, with all his good an bad traits. But after a flea bath and some warm milk, Ivan actually felt himself take a liking to the feline. Besides, Jazzy made Arthur happy, hand that was all that mattered.

**...^J^...**

**The car catastrophe:  
**

"Oh shit, Ivan's gonna kill me!" Alfred whimpered, clutching at his bleeding head as he inspected the atrosive damage of his vehicle. The front was completely beyond repair, and it was a miracle that he had actually come out with only a minor head wound.

Everything had happened so fast. He had been heading home from his five hour shift at McDonald's, and then while driving he'd wanted to send a quick text to Ivan saying that he was on his way home. It had been a mistake though...by accident his car had collided with another one.

Thankfully the people in the other car were alright. They had been a young couple, and were good natured and accepted Alfred's horrified apology. Now the cops and paramedics had arrived, along with a large tow truck. Since it was Alfred's fault he was the one who had to pay, and now their insurance would go up higher. Oh man, when Ivan saw the bill...he would be dead. He would also be very angry when he saw Alfred's car. Needless to say, he was in some major shit right now.

"Texting and driving huh?" A cop commented rudely when Alfred had explained the cause of the crash. "Typical...I guess both teenagers and adults are at blame for texting while operating a vehicle."

"I didn't mean toooo!" Alfred cried, wiping at his eyes. "It was an accident!"

"Accident or not, the damage is done. I suggest you go with the paramedics to get head of yours looked at." The cop said sternly. Alfred sighed and did as he was told.

Meanwhile, Ivan was at home watching Arthur. He was teaching the boy how to play chess. Arthur really seemed to have a knack for it, because already he was winning and only twenty minutes earlier he had explained the game. Anyways, just as Arthur had captured yet another one of Ivan's pawns, the house phone rang. Arthur sprang up from his seat to go answer it.

"Hello?...Oh, Hi daddy! How was work? Oh, okay. Here he is." Arthur spoke, with Ivan unable to hear Alfred's side of the conversation. "It's for you." Arthur said, passing the phone to his father. Ivan frowned internally. Why would Alfred need to call? Wasn't he supposed to be on his way home?"

"Hello sunflower, what is it?" He said into the phone.

"Um...hey Ivie," Alfred replied in a rather nervous tone. "Er...I'm sorta in a little fix here..."

"What do you mean?" Ivan asked calmly, hoping that it wasn't something bad. Maybe Alfred was just asked to stay a little later for his shift or something...nothing to be alarmed about!

"Well, you see, I'm in the emergency room now and I need you to come get me." Alfred said, trying to sound casual. Ivan's eyes almost popped out of his head.

"YOU'RE _WHAT_?" He hissed. "Explain Alfred, _right now_!"

"Well, you see, I kinda sorta maybe crashed the car. No need to worry though, we have enough money to buy a new car! And I only needed a few stitches in my head, nothing important! I was just texting and then I accidentally hit a car ahead of me." Alfred rambled, his words almost too fast for Ivan to comprehend. There was a fearful silence, and Ivan could almost see Alfred's face cringe in his mind.

"...How could you have been so idiotic!?" Ivan roared. "You could have been killed, or permanently injured! How many times have I told you not to text while driving? We are adults Alfred, and therefore you should understand and set a good example! Not only will our insurance bill rise, but now we need a new car! Worst of all, as I said before, you could have been seriously hurt! Hell, you are hurt!"

"I'm sorry," Alfred replied meekly. "C-can you just come pick me up please?""

"I'll be there in ten minutes," He replied, clicking the phone off before turning to a bewildered Arthur. "Get your jacket, we're going to pick up your idiot dad."

The car ride was none too pleasant, especially for Arthur. The whole time Ivan ranted to him that if he ever texted while driving when he was older, then he would be grounded and confined to his room for life. Arthur obviously deducted from Ivan's phone conversation that Alfred had texted while driving and crashed, so he sighed and endured the lecture for something that wasn't his fault.

When they arrived at the hospital, Alfred was waiting at the entrance and ran to the car, hopping in quickly. Ivan didn't drive for a moment, and instead took Alfred's face in his hands and inspected the damage. There was a small stitched cut on his forehead, but it didn't look entirely bad since the blood had been cleaned. Other than that his arms sported a few minor bruises. Ivan sighed in mild relief, but then turned an angry gaze on Alfred.

Arthur sighed in relief as he was spared being on the end of Ivan's lecture. Luckily they all made it home safe and sound.

Still though, it was a month before Ivan permitted Alfred permission to have access to his phone when he wasn't around Ivan. It was the first time Arthur actually witnessed one of his parents punished before!

**...^J^...**

**Old?:  
**

"I can't believe this!" Alfred moaned, using his hands to grip at his hair in stress. "Fucking twenty four...I'm so old!"

"I would hardly call that old," Ivan commented in amusement as he watched his lover stress out. "You only need to start worrying about that after you reach your mid thirties."

Today, as you probably already guessed, was Alfred's birthday. Instead of growing excited like most people would, Alfred was practically in tears. He thought that he was growing old and would be less hip or something. Of course to Ivan that was just a bunch of baloney. With today's society, the forties were the new thirties, and Alfred had a long way to go until he was that age. Ivan himself was twenty five, but it hardly bothered him. After all, being in your twenties still counted as a young adult.

"Dude, it may seem like that for now. But before you know it I'll start getting grey hair, and then wrinkles, and after that it all goes downhill! Just you wait, pretty soon well be too old to get around by ourselves and we'll have to rely on Artie to take care of us!" Alfred freaked.

"Calm down sunflower," Ivan sighed, kissing Alfred's cheek. "That will be quite a long ways away. Besides, aren't you excited for tonight? Mattie and Juan are coming over, and we'll have a small party."

"Damn, does that Cuban dude really have to come?" Alfred whined, pouting childishly.

"Yes Alfred, he is a close friend of your brothers, how many times must we go over this? Besides," Ivan leaned in closer to his husband's ear. "I'll be giving you a lot of birthday love tonight in bed."

"Really now? Well that's certainly something I can look forward too." Alfred said, perking up considerably.

Later that evening just as planned, Matthew and Juan came over. The present they had got him was a bunch of restaurant gift cards, a book of free movie passes. Matthew claimed it was from both of them, but it was obvious that Juan hadn't contributed. Ivan himself had bought Alfred a brand new cellphone, one of the newest editions! That certainly made the American's day. Arthur had made him a birthday card covered in drawings of mint colored bunnies, and had got him a mug that said _World's Best Dad_ on it. Alfred vowed to drink from it every morning.

Later that night after Arthur was in bed and sound asleep, Alfred and Ivan spent a lot of time together in the bedroom. After they had finished their 'activities' Alfred lay snuggled up to his sound asleep Russian lover. He then decided that maybe being 24 wasn't so bad. After all, Juan was almost thirty, and that was saying something!

Maybe he would stop worrying until he reached thirty...

**...^J^...**

**British or American?:  
**

"Ivan, I'm concerned about Arthur." Alfred said seriously one afternoon. It was a quiet Saturday, since Arthur had spent last night at Gilbert's house and wasn't expected home until after dinner. The two adults had spent the day lounging around, Alfred working on his website and Ivan reading. At his husband's words, Ivan lowered his book in mild shock.

"What are you talking about?" Ivan asked, eyebrows furrowing together. Arthur seemed perfectly fine to him. He was doing wonderfully in school, he hadn't gotten into much trouble at home, he wasn't ill...what could Alfred possibly mean?

"Haven't you realized it Ivie? Think about it...how many years had it been since we adopted Artie?" Alfred prompted.

"About four or so...why?" Ivan answered, still confused.

"Dude, shouldn't Artie be more American? Think about it! He still sounds entirely British, and he uses those weird words like 'bloody' and stuff! And he likes tea, almost as much as chocolate milk! Plus he wont even try burgers! He hasn't become American _at all_!" Alfred explained wildly.

"Wow...you're right, now that I think about it." Ivan responded, thinking back. It was true. Arthur still sounded very British. It was cute though! All the mothers of the kids at Arthur's school thought he was darling with that voice. Somehow Ivan just couldn't picture his sweet little British boy acting all wild and American like.

"I know dude! I mean, it's just weird is all. I don't really got a problem with it. I just wish he would try McDonald's though. If only..." Alfred said, sighing wistfully.

"Oh well. I like him just the way he is. If he turns all American, then he just would not be Arthur." Ivan said, going back to his book.

"Yeah..." Alfred said, grinning.

He couldn't be any more right.

**...^J^...**

**Shave my bear why don't ya!?:  
**

Matthew Williams awoke to a crash from downstairs. His eyes shot open and he quickly discarded the covers and rushed to the first floor of he and Juan's large house. He barely even had time to pull on his bathrobe on his way down. When he reached the kitchen, puffing and out of breath, he saw something shocking.

"J-Juan...what the hell are you doing to Kumajiro!?" The Canadian screeched, eyes round and wide with horror.

"Oh um...funny story...hehe.." Juan chuckled. In his hands was an electric shaving razor. On the counter before him was Matthew's precious pet polar bear. Only something was very wrong, considering that Kumajiro's back legs and tail were completely stripped of his fluffy white fur! Matthew then studied Juan, and his eyes narrowed.

"Juan, are you fucking_ high_?" He asked in disbelief.

"Um...I dunno man. Do I look high?" Juan asked, eyebrows drawn together.

"Yes!" Matthew answered instantly, staring into Juan's glazed over eyes.

"Oh...hehe, that's cool man! Do you want a sandwich?" Juan offered, pulling a random squished sandwich out from his sweatpants's pocket (He wasn't wearing a shirt) and offering it to Matthew. The Canadian stared at it for a moment before knocking the food out of the Cuban's hand.

"No Juan, no I do not want a sandwich! Now do you mind telling me why you thought it would be a good idea to shave my bear?" Matthew replied, turning his head to stare at Kumajiro again. The polar bear didn't seem too phased, and was now nibbling on the sandwich that Matthew had knocked to the floor.

"Oh...I dunno. Hey, do you wanna go swimming? It's kinda hot in here." Juan said. "I'll be outside!"

Matthew could only stare at his friend's retreating back in disbelief. Honestly, sometimes he couldn't remember why he had befriended Juan. Maybe it was because the Cuban actually noticed him. Either way, Juan had good traits and bad traits, just like any other being. Besides, Matthew was guilty for using the same stuff that Juan did, just not that often.

"He still shouldn't have touched my Kuma though..." Matthew muttered. "Oh well, looks like it's time for breakfast."

**a/n: Well, how was that? I hope there weren't too many errors. I only read through it quickly...anyway, thanks for all of your wonderful ideas! The next chapter will be really good. It will involve Arthur going to middle school, the sex talk, and many more adventures! It'll be quite long I assure you. **

**Anyway, please review if you have the time, I would greatly appreciate it!**


	9. Sixth Grader: Part 1

**...^J^...**

**Starting Middle School:**

Alfred was not a happy parent, for only one big reason. Starting in two days, Arthur would no longer attend the local elementary school. No, he would now be a student at the public middle school. It was such a big change, and he most certainly didn't want his son going to such a place. Alfred remembered his own days at middle school, and it was definitely a place in which he didn't want his little Artie attending.

As much as the American begged and pleaded, Ivan did not agree to Alfred's idea of keeping Arthur home and homeschooling him there. The Russian had told him firmly that Arthur needed to go to public school, and that getting an education like that was very important. Alfred still hadn't forgiven him yet...

Arthur himself seemed pretty excited about middle school, which baffled the American greatly. Oh well, he was probably really nervous on the inside. Artie always did try and hold his emotions inside. Anyway, the almost eleven year old had been busy all week preparing. He had a new backpack, tons of school clothes and supplies, basically just about everything. Together, Alfred and Ivan had also picked out a laptop for Arthur to keep. There were too many different types, so they just went with the most expensive one. There were rules of course. Arthur couldn't take it to school without permission, and he wasn't allowed on any inappropriate sites.

Alfred sat brooding about everything on the couch in the living room. Honestly, this was terrible! Now he wasn't even allowed to pick Arthur up everyday! Ivan had given him permission to walk home with Gilbert and a few other friends so long as it wasn't raining.

"Dad, can I go over to Gilbert's? This is the last day of summer, which means once school starts I'll only have weekends. So can I go?" Arthur asked, waiting impatiently in the doorway for an answer.

There was a silence.

Alfred's eyes widened.

5...4...3...2...

"W-what did you just call me?" Alfred asked, voice a high pitched whisper.

"Huh?" Arthur replied, a little confused.

"You called me...you called me dad..." The American pointed out in disbelief.

"Um...okay? What does that have to do with anything?" Arthur wondered aloud.

"You didn't call me daddy. Why didn't you? How could you do this to me!?" Alfred cried out dramatically.

"Dad, I'm going to be in middle school now. I'll get teased if I call you daddy. I'm not a little kid anymore." Arthur pointed out, though he did feel a bit sorry when Alfred's eyes welled up with tears.

"But...but I've always been the daddy! How can I cope with just being 'dad'? It sounds so bland!"

"It's not bland, it's just a normal thing to be called." Arthur said reassuringly. "Now please can I go to Gil's? We're going to play rugby!"

"Fine" Alfred sniffled, holding his chin up childishly. "Do whatever you want...obviously you don't think of my as a daddy anymore. Why should I care if you go over to some albino's house and probably do dangerous things? Nope, I don't give a flapping fladoodle anymore."

"...Okay, thanks!" Arthur responded excitedly, quickly making his way to the front door and leaving.

"Dammit!" Alfred cursed, eyes welling up with tears. "I gotta...I gotta talk to my Ivie!"

With that, he proceeded to pick up his cell phone and dial Ivan's work number.

_Later that night:_

The rest of the afternoon passed by very awkwardly. When Arthur came back home, (Since it was a school night after all) Alfred barely even acknowledged him. He didn't set a place for Arthur at dinner, leaving Ivan too do it, and then didn't look his direction at all. Finally when Arthur asked what was wrong, Alfred had only burst into tears, running upstairs and slamming the door behind him.

"I'll handle this," Ivan told Arthur, sighing as he stood up and headed after his crazy lover. When he got to their bedroom, Alfred lay face down upon the sheets, shoulders shaking with barely concealed sobs.

"Sunflower, this has to stop," Ivan spoke softly, placing a hand on the American's shoulder as he sat on the bed beside him.

"W-what are you t-talking about?" Alfred asked through sniffles.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. Listen my dear, there really isn't anything to worry about. Arthur is going into middle school now though, which means that we need to give him a little more respect. I don't think it's a big deal for him to call you by dad. Kids can be cruel these days, and they'd probably tease him if he called you daddy." Ivan told him. "Besides, Arthur really is growing up. He's nowhere near old enough to not be parented, but he is old enough to make some decisions of his own."

"But...but...he's Artie! He's our baby!"

"Of course he is," Ivan agreed. "But try treating him like a normal middle-schooler. You may find out he'll give you a lot more respect himself."

"Huh. I guess I never thought about that before." Alfred said thoughtfully.

"I knew you would understand," Ivan told him gleefully, pecking him on the lips. That little kiss turned into something more. Let's just say that Arthur was left to take care of the dishes that night.

The next morning when Arthur walked into the kitchen, he was greeted by a plate full of pancakes, eggs, and bacon, with toast on the side. Alfred stood grinning, a pancake batter covered spatula in his hand.

"Hey Artie, excited for your first day of middle school? I bet it'll be awesome!" The American said excitedly,

"Oh, um yeah," Arthur replied a little hesitantly. "So...you're feeling better today?"

"What are you talking about dude, I was fine yesterday!" Alfred responded cheerfully. "Now come on and eat, you need your strength to get through school dude. If you hurry and get ready then well stop at Dunkin Doughnuts and I'll buy you a coolatta to take to school with you."

"Wow, okay!" Arthur said a little gleefully, but he couldn't help but wonder why his dad was acting even weirder than normal. After all, who could be so cheerful before seven am? Alfred however, was internally whooping with joy. Last night he had been doing a lot of thinking. From now on, he was determined to be the coolest dad ever. He would be the favorite one, the awesome one, the one who everyone loved. Sure, he was still depressed about not being a daddy, but he would have to make due with what he got.

"Have a cool day Artie! See ya later dude!" He called out awhile later as he pulled the car up to the front doors of the school.

"Thanks dad, bye!" Arthur replied as he climbed out of the car. Alfred kept the car parked until Arthur was in the building and out of sight. Finally his grin turned into a frown. He slunk lower in his seat, resting his chin in his hand.

"This kinda sucks..." He muttered. "I wish he didn't have to grow any older."

Suddenly the cellphone in his jeans vibrated, so he drew it out and looked at the new text message.

_Al, a baby giraffe was just born at my work. You have to come over and see it! -Mattie_

"A giraffe? SWEET! That's totally awesome!" Alfred shouted, pumping his fist into the air. With that, Alfred drove away from the school, depressing thoughts postponed for now. Maybe Ivan was right, he shouldn't get so worked up all the time.

From this day fourth, Alfred pledged to be the coolest dad ever.

**...^J^...**

**The Talk of Doom:**

It had been approximately two weeks since Arthur had started middle school. Alfred was finally overcoming his depression and moving on to accept the fact that Arthur no longer attended elementary school. Ivan winced at thinking of how Alfred would probably react when it was time for Arthur to go to High school. Thank god they still had awhile until then...

One day Arthur came home with a paper to be signed. Alfred was working until late tonight, so Ivan was the one who had to sign the paper. There was a big difference in the parent's when it came to stuff like this. Any papers from school that were given to Ivan would cause the Russian man to read every exact word very carefully. Alfred however, would just casually smile and sign his name with no questions asked.

"Here father, can you sign this for me?" Arthur asked as he discarded his green hoodie, passing the paper to Ivan before going into the kitchen to find a snack.

This paper was colored a light blue, and the bold printed words at the top instantly made Ivan spit out the lemon flavored water he'd been in the middle of sipping. His eyes widened as they once again reread the words. **Sexual Education Video Permission Slip**.

What the hell? Arthur was only in sixth grade! Did the school really have to explain that stuff to children at such a young age? They hadn't explained anything to Arthur about sex. After realizing this, Ivan was quick to come to a realization, and he dialed Alfred's cell number right away, praying that his husband would have his phone turned on.

"Hey babe, what's up?" Alfred answered after the second ring.

"Alfred, do you know what Arthur brought home from school today?" Ivan asked, trying to keep his voice quiet so that Arthur would not hear from the other room.

"What? Something bad? He didn't get a detention or something, did he?" Alfred asked a little worriedly.

"No, thankfully not. He brought home a permission slip to watch a video...about sex." Ivan told him as bluntly as possible.

...

There was a clanging noise, and Ivan assumed that his husband had dropped the phone. He waited patiently until he heard the phone being picked back up, and a gasp.

"About...about sex?" The American squeaked.

"Yes," Ivan answered, and then tried to find the right words. "Darling, I think this means we should...you know..."

"What? What do we need to do?" Alfred asked impatiently. "Maybe see if they can ban the movie? Or the class? Or sue the school?"

"Nyet, that was not what I was talking about." Ivan answered, a tad bit amused from the answer. "I was thinking something along the lines of the talk. You know...the _talk, talk_. About...things."

"No way dude, we can't expose Arthur to such vile information!" Alfred protested.

"Vile? Alfred dear, we make sweet love every single night and you think it is vile?" Ivan questioned.

"No, that's not what I meant! Just...Artie's awful young.."

"I understand. But we should confront him about it before his health teacher does. We can explain it much better than some idiot teacher can." Ivan told him.

"Alright...we can when I get home I guess," Alfred sighed grudgingly. "But I don't like it one bit!"

Later that night after dinner, Ivan took a deep breath and called Arthur and Alfred into the living room. Alfred obviously knew what was coming and dragged his feet slowly, resembling a five year old who was about to be punished or something. Arthur was a little confused but came and sat down anyway. It was silent for a moment, Arthur looking at them both expectantly.

"Um...we need to talk about something Arthur." Ivan finally spoke, trying to find the right words.

"Am I in trouble? I swear I had nothing to do with the fruit incident at lunch..." Arthur said, a little panicked at how uncomfortable both his parents looked.

"Artie bud, how much do you know about...um...love?" Alfred decided to speak up.

"Love?" Arthur repeated, a bit confused. "W-what do you mean?"

"We have to explain a few things to you involving love Arthur," Ivan told him. "Now you see, sometimes a man and a woman, or sometimes two men or two woman, love each other very much. As they grow older, they develop deeper feelings and urges to-"

"Wait a second!" Arthur interrupted, cheeks turning a bright pink. "Are you...er...trying to give me _the talk_?"

"You about about the talk?" Alfred asked. "And yeah, we got a lot of stuff to go over."

If anything, Alfred and Ivan had been expecting their son to protest loudly, or put up a nasty fight in order to avoid the dreaded talk. However, both men were completely surprised when Arthur just shrugged his shoulders.

"You don't need to, I already know all that stuff." He said confidently.

It took approximately five seconds for the message to sink into the adults.

"WHAT!?" Alfred shrieked (in a totally manly way of course).

"What do you mean you already know!?" Ivan added, but still as panicked as Alfred.

"Gilbert told me all about that stuff, so you needn't worry about explaining it." Arthur told them, as if this were no big deal whatsoever. Now maybe it was, or maybe it wasn't. Either way, it was a pretty big deal to a certain Russian and American. Hearing that Gilbert was the one to introduce Arthur to such things made the blood drain fro their faces.

"GILBERT? Oh my god!" Alfred screamed. "He probably filled your head with evil, vile, untrue and nasty things! He's most likely brainwashed you or something! My innocent Artie, brought into a world of evil thanks to that evil little Beilschmidt kid!" Alfred began ranting, standing up on his feet and raising a fist into the air out of fury.

"I...have to agree with you." Ivan told Alfred, a look of horror on his own face as well.

"How come? Gilbert told me everything, and he pinky swore that it was true!" Arthur finally decided to speak again.

"Buddy, what did we tell you about Gilbert?" Ivan asked him sternly.

"...Ugh, not to trust anything he says. I get it, okay?" Arthur answered with a groan, absolutely exasperated with his parents. "But you seriously don't need to-"

"Babies are made when a man puts his banana into a girl's bagel!" Alfred blurted out.

"_Sunflower_!"

"_Ew dad, gross_!"

"Sorry, this is just a lot of pressure." Alfred apologized, wiping the beats of sweat from his forehead.

"That's it, I'm going upstairs to finish my homework," Arthur said firmly. "I really don't want to hear this."

"Oh wonderful Alfred, now you've completely ruined out chances of properly educating our son about the nature of sex." Ivan said, throwing his hands up in the air out of annoyance.

"I didn't mean to!" Alfred whined.

"Well now Arthur probably wont ever eat bananas or bagels again. I don't think even _I_ will be able to!"

"I said I was sorry, what more do you want?" Alfred snapped.

Arthur looked between his arguing parents before quietly slipping off the couch and heading back upstairs. Grown ups...what the hell went through their minds?

"I guess I shouldn't bring up some of the worse things Gil has told me." Arthur chuckled to himself after he'd finally made it to his room.

**...^J^...**

**Fight:  
**

**Typical Day  
**

"And so you see, adding both of the numbers and multiplying them by this number over here will allow you to then put together the proper equation." Mr. Chuck, the sixth grade math teacher, explained as he wrote a long problem on the board that was far too complicated for six graders. Arthur sat at his desk, pretending to be attentive when in reality he was extremely bored.

"Pst, hey Arthur!" He heard Gilbert calling to him from a few seats behind, as he had been doing constantly throughout the period. After making sure the teacher wasn't looking, Arthur turned around.

"What?" He hissed.

"I'm bored!" Gilbert whined a little too loudly.

"Mr. Beilschmidt, is their something you would like to share with the class?" The teacher asked, clearly unamused as the German albino grinned smugly.

"As a natter of fact yes. This class sucks!" He replied. Some of the other students chuckled quietly, while others just rolled their eyes.

"This is the third time in the past hour that you've talked during my direct instruction. Since you find this class so boring, I'm sure you wont mind spending the rest of the class in the principle's office."

"What!? I didn't even do anything wrong! Doesn't this country have a freedom of speech law, or is America only good for it's greasy fast food? I shouldn't be punished for speaking my mind!"

"Now, Mr. Beilschmidt." The teacher replied sternly.

"But then the principle will call mein Grandfather! Then he'll probably tell mein bruder, and then I'll be grounded or something! You don't understand, this will be my fourth time to the office today!" Gilbert pleaded.

"That's not my concern. Now get out of my class."

"Eh, whatever." Gilbert shrugged to himself. "See you all later!"

The class laughed as Gilbert made his exit. Sadly, this meant that their only source of entertainment was gone, leaving them to spend the rest of the class in complete boredom. Finally class ended, and lunchtime care around. Arthur didn't see Gilbert anywhere, which probably wasn't good, so he went over to sit next to Antonio, and unfortunately Francis.

"Where's Gil?" Antonio asked, curiously, since normally Arthur and Gilbert would arrive in the lunch room at the same time.

"The office," Arthur replied. "You know, for the usual."

"When will he ever learn?" The Spanish boy sighed.

"I really don't think he will." Francis said. "He needs to think about other things besides getting in trouble. Like love!"

"Shut up frog, nobody cares about love." Arthur said with a glare.

"You don't have to deny your feelings for me, my dear Brit. Just confess your love so you can get the rejection over with." Francis said, winking.

"I said shut up!" Arthur repeated.

"Non, I will not."

"SHUT YOUR FROGGY MOUTH!"

"Non!"

The argument eventually took a turn for the worse. The two boys kept picking even dirtier insults. Finally Francis made some snark comment about Arthur being a slow minded limey who should move back to England, which resulted in Arthur pouncing across the table at him. Thankfully Antonio was able to separate them before any teachers saw.

Gilbert getting in trouble, Arthur and Francis fighting...

Just another typical day in middle school.

**a/n: Hey guys! I am so so so sorry that this took awhile. I guess I just had writers block or something, plus there's been a lot of family drama. Lemme tell you this, it really sucks when you always get treated like the black sheep of the family. Anyway, part 2 will be here soon, m'kay? By the way, thanks for reviewing the last chapter!**

**See you all soon!**


	10. Sixth Grader Part 2

**HA! I bet you all thought I was never continuing this story too, huh? Well in your face! **

**...^J^...**

**Burger**

"IVAN! Oh my god, IVAN!"

"Ugh, Alfred what do you want?"

"They added a new burger to the McDonald's menu!"

Ivan sighed. Why did Alfred have to freak out over such trivial things? His husband was much too dramatic sometimes. Often he liked it, but sometimes it was just plain annoying.

"That is wonderful sunflower." Ivan said, before going back to typing up some documents for work on his laptop.

"Well...don't you wanna go try it out with me?" Alfred asked a few seconds later.

"Hmm? Oh, nyet Alfred. I'm trying to work right now." Ivan told him, eyes never leaving the computer screen as his fingers clicked loudly over the keyboard.

Alfred grumbled to himself. Why did Ivan have to be so interested in typing now? Ever since he'd taken that keyboarding course for work, now he was always typing. Alfred didn't even get it; normally Ivan detested computers, saying that they were too confusing. His thoughts were drawn from that though, when he heard the flushing of a toilet from upstairs.

"Artie, get down here!" He hollered. There was some shuffling around, and then the bathroom door opened. Arthur looked a little annoyed, standing at the top of the stairwell.

"What is it dad?" He asked, arms crossed.

"I'm grounding you unless ya come to McDonald's with me to try out their new burger." Alfred informed him. "Now come on and get your coat."

Arthur sighed audibly. "Dad, you always do this whenever they come up with something new on the menu. Why on earth can't you go yourself? I already had lunch."

"That doesn't matter, you're going to have lunch again then. Now hurry up and meet me in the car!" Alfred ordered, not giving Arthur any time to reply as he went out the front door to start the car.

Arthur decided that there was probably no use i in whining, and so he went to go put on his jacket.

"Have a good time," Ivan told him before Arthur went to go meet up with Alfred.

"I won't," Arthur told him.

…**^J^...**

**Restrictions**:

"But why can't I go?" Arthur pleaded for the tenth time that night.

"For the last time Arthur, we will not allow you to go to a midnight concert with Gilbert on a school night." Ivan repeated firmly.

"But he's already got the tickets! Plus his older brother will be there!" Arthur said.

"That's just too bad. You can go to the next concert he invites you to, so long as it isn't on a school night." Ivan told him.

"Come on! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Raging BoneHead is one of the best bands around! Dad, please?" Arthur begged, turning towards Alfred and giving him his best puppy dog eyes.

'_Be strong Alfred, be strong...'_, the American thought to himself, and then took a deep breath. "Sorry Artie, but I agree with your father. You're only eleven, there's no way we're letting you go to a midnight concert. Besides, even the band title sounds kinda sketchy." He said.

"Fine then, screw you guys!" Arthur shouted, before running upstairs to his room.

"Arthur Kirkland!" Ivan yelled after him, but was answered the sound of a door slamming shut.

"Oh my god Ivie, he's never ever said something so vulgar to us before!" Alfred whimpered.

"Be strong sunflower, we're in the right on this one." Ivan assured him. "He'll come around in the morning. Besides, he should be lucky that I'm not punishing him for speaking so disrespectfully to us."

"I'm going to go make sure he's okay. I can't have our little Artie mad at us!" Alfred decided, and hurried on up to their son's room. He knocked, but entered without even giving Arthur time to say come in. Arthur was on his bed, scribbling something on a piece of paper.

"Hi there Art, whatcha doing?" Alfred asked, peering over the eleven year old's shoulder. He cringed when he saw that Arthur had drawn of two incredibly fat and ugly creatures labeled dad and father.

"I um, know you're bummed out and everything," Alfred said sympathetically. "However, truthfully you probably won't be missing out on much. I bet Gilbert was lying about his brother taking you guys. I know for a fact that Ludwig isn't the type to go to such a concert."

"I know that! I was only telling you Ludwig was going for a coverup! We were going to sneak in!" Arthur spit out accidently.

"Aha, I knew it!" Alfred cried out. "But if you want, I can take the both of you to the next weekend concert, so you won't have to sneak in."

"Really?" Arthur asked.

"Sure! Well...as long as the band isn't that inappropriate or anything." Alfred replied.

"It isn't that inappropriate! Mostly..." Arthur said.

"Okay Artie, I trust you," Alfred laughed, ruffling the kid's hair.

…**^J^...**

**Drugs**

"Uncle Matthew?"

"Yes Arthur?"

"Have you ever tried drugs before?"

W-what?" Matthew stuttered, choking on the sip of lemonade that he'd just taken. "Um, no...of course not! Drugs are bad...for kids. Um, why?"

"Some kid offered something called pot to me and Gilbert today. I didn't knwo what it was, but Gil knew. He said no though." Arthur explained.

"Really, Gilbert said no? Good for him!"

"Only because he said the kid was selling it for way too high," Arthur added.

"Oh...Uh, look Arthur. You're probably going to get offered stuff like that a lot more. But say no, okay? That stuff can really mess you up. Especially if you mix different shit up." Matthew said, muttering the last sentence to himself.

"Has anyone offered it to you before?" Arthur inquired.

'_Yes, daily. Only I don't say no'_

"Of course, but I've always told them no." Matthew said allowed. "Besides, think about the consequences. If your parents found out about you doing stuff like that, they'd never let you out of the house again. Heck, Alfred would probably go with his plan for homeschooling you."

"Yeah, you're right," Arthur agreed. "I wouldn't try it anyway though."

"Good," Matthew told him. "Gee I can't believe that happened to you. I mean, you're only eleven!"

"Almost twelve!" Arthur objected.

"Of course. But still! I didn't learn about that stuff until High School."

"I guess things have changed then."

"Hmm...I guess they have." Matthew agreed. "Wow, that makes me feel old."

"You _are _old."

…**^J^...**  
**Yearly Vacation**

"Please Ivie? Please Artie? Just this once?" Alfred pleaded.

"Nyet Sunflower, we have already decided," Ivan replied firmly.

"Yeah dad," Arthur agreed, crossing his arms.

"But why not?" Alfred asked desperately.

"We are not going on a vacation to Disney World! Both Arthur and I voted for Prague, and that is where we shall go." Ivan said.

"Dammit, come on! Last year it was the Caribbean, and the year before that it was the Amazon cruise. Every year I've voted for Disney World, but it always loses. Why can't we go just once?"

"We like to go to exciting places. There is nothing unique about Disney World." Ivan responded.

"Come on!" Alfred practically howled in misery. "Artie, if we went then we could get you an autograph book, and you could get Mickey Mouse's signature! Wouldn't that be fun?"

"No dad, that's kid stuff. I want to see Prague!" Arthur replied with a huff, as if Disney World was stupid much to Alfred's horror.

"We can go next year," Ivan told his lover comfortingly.

"THAT'S WHAT YOU ALWAYS SAY!" Alfred screamed.

"If you have a bad attitude then we won't take you on our yearly vacation at all." Ivan said sternly, as if Alfred was the child rather than Arthur.

"But I've always wanted to go! It's my life dream!"

"You're so overdramatic dad," Arthur told his parent. "Besides, we've already been to FLordia before."

"That was to go to Busch Gardens!" Alfred pointed out.

"Yes, but we still went to Florida." Ivan said. "Now accept that our next destination is Prague, and we can all be happy. Okay?"

"Fineee," Alfred groaned, muttering under his breath, "Stupid Prague."

He was making sure they went to Disney World next year.

Or else.

**a/n: Sorry it's been forever. I'd make up some crummy excuse but I have none. Um, hope it wasn't too awful. I haven't been exactly in the "Alternate Universe" mood as of late. I'll get back there eventually I'm sure. **

**Review for the sake of our amazing Alternate family!**


End file.
